IGP Dr. George Akufo-Addo
The Ghana Police Service has refuted claims of alleged illegal connection and power theft at Osu Police Barracks and Kumasi Central Police Station.
In a statement, it stated that “the attention of the Police Administration has been drawn to publications in sections of the media attributed to the Electricity Company of Ghana, alleging electricity theft and illegal connections by the Police at the Osu Police Barracks and the Kumasi Central Police Station”.
“We would like to put on record that as a government institution, the payment of electricity by the police is centrally managed and not directly paid for by individual police officers or commands and therefore there is no incentive for the Service or any of its officers to steal electricity as alleged”.
“Surprised by these allegations the Police Administration caused investigations to be conducted into the matter” the statement added.
It continues that “Our investigation revealed that at the Osu Barracks, the ECG disconnected three buildings because they had no electricity meters. A similar situation happened in Kumasi, where one building was disconnected because it didn’t have its dedicated meter”.
The Police said checks from their records indicate at the situation at both the Osu Police Barracks and the Kumasi Central Police Station has existed for some years now.
“Investigation further established that all the connections at the Osu barracks and the Kumasi Central Police Station were done by the ECG directly to the poles since the ECG had indicated that they did not have any meters available at the time. In both instances, the connections were done by officials of the ECG”.
“After the investigation, at the instance of the Inspector-General of Police, a meeting was held with the management of ECG where the outcome of our investigation to the effect that the police had not been involved in illegal connection or power theft was made known to them; which they accepted and expressed regret about the situation”
“After the investigation, and before the meeting, all Police Regional Commands were directed to officially invite and work with ECG officials within their areas of operation to reexamine all existing electricity connections and metering in all Police facilities across the country including the possibility of installing bulk meters instead of individual meters for each building as has been the case over the years”.
“We would therefore like to call on the public to disregard the false claims of power theft and illegal connections levelled against the Police since there is no basis for the allegations” the statement added.
BY Daniel Bampoe