Some youth in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality of the Eastern Region are maintaining their stand against the rollout of prepaid meters in the area despite a 3-4week long power outage in the community which is collapsing businesses and threatening various institutions.
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) cut power to the Yilo Krobo and Lower Manya Krobo Municipalities, since Wednesday, July 27, 2022, over agitations against its prepaid metering policy.
But some customers of the company, despite its actions say they won't back down on their word.
Speaking during a durbar at Kpongunor before a delegation from the Jubilee House which had come to engage ECG customers in the Lower Manya Krobo area, a youth leader, Mr. Evans Kumah warned that the community was maintaining its grounds against the exercise.
He argued that though there'd come a time when the rollout of the prepaid meters would be inevitable, the time was not ripe and questioned why the ECG was forcing the exercise down the throat of its Krobo customers.
"When the whole of Ghana is transitioning to the prepaid, then we know the time is ripe but if that's not the case and you're telling us that you billed us wrongly and instead of correcting the wrong, you decide to touch the meters then we believe that's a means of recovering those old bills," he stressed.
Though most homes in Kpong and Somanya have already been given the meters, he stated that the youth were ready to continue with their resistance to the exercise even if it meant being killed by the security forces.
Receiving cheers of approval from the crowd, Mr. Kumah furthered, "Irrespective of those who have already been given the meters, we're not ready for the prepaid meters. You brought the police, it didn't work, you brought the military, it didn't work, we know that you have the force but if you're willing to kill all of us then you can impose your prepaid meters".
Robert Tetteyfio Adjase, a Presidential Staffer and an indigene of the area who led a delegation from the seat of government to engage the community explained that the purpose of the visit was to offer them the opportunity to mediate in the impasse.
"For some time now we all know what's happening to the Krobos, the lights are out for almost three weeks and it's heartbreaking that in a place that you belong you see all these things happening and then you'll sit comfortably in the seat of government without even coming to help to solve the problem or provide solutions so we took it upon ourselves to come and meet the chiefs and the people of Krobo and see how best we can address the issue between the ECG, the people, and the military so that they can restore the power back," Mr. Adjase said in an interview.
According to him, they would report the issues as they heard them from the chiefs and members of the community to the President, Nana Akufo Addo.
To him, education was the only requisite to convince the people to accept the prepaid metering system.
The presidential staffer urged the people to remain calm as engagements continue to find a lasting solution to the issue.
PRO of the divisional chiefs and chief of Suisi Okwenya, Nene Olepeme Sakinor Nanor I, said engaging the youth was part of the efforts being put in place by the committee to find a lasting solution to the impasse.
The setting up of the committee was in line with a recommendation by the energy minister, Hon Matthew Opoku Prempeh to establish a roadmap toward solving the problem.
Reiterating the demands of the chiefs and power consumers in the area, Nene Sakinor stressed on their demands for the cancellation of the old debts, the bad timing of the prepaid exercise, and the lack of adequate sensitization of the communities.
The PRO urged the power distributors to restore light to the area while negotiations continue.
"What we're saying is they should hold on with the prepaid, switch on the light so that together we sit down for whoever the President will appoint to be our chairman to mediate between us and the ECG," the chief and PRO said.
He called on government to issue a white paper guaranteeing that the 2014 to 2022 bills have been cancelled.
"Government can be changed and the President's term will end and a new President will come which means they'll form a new government if there's no agreement to show that the debt has been cancelled, anything can happen and for this thing not to happen again it's necessary to issue a white paper on this issue if it's cancelled," he maintained.
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Some youth from the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality