Hundreds of residents in Somanya, Odumase, and Kpong in the Yilo Krobo and Lower Manya Krobo Municipalities on Monday morning embarked on a demonstration against the introduction of prepaid meters being introduced in homes and shops by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
The demonstration, which was organized by the United Krobo Foundation saw the residents both young and old clad in red and black apparel with placards with inscriptions such ‘ECG we won’t work with you, VRA give us direct power’ among others, as they matched from Akutunya truck station through Odumase to Kpong.
The residents have had a long-standing dispute with the power distribution company over supposed wrong estimation of bills and over-billing, which resulted in the death of a young man during a similar protest two years ago.
They contend that the installation of prepaid meters will further aggravate the impasse between the people and ECG, since the supposed overbilling issues are yet to be addressed.
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Some of the demonstrators who spoke to Citi News said they want a direct supply of power from the Volta River Authority (VRA).
Joshua Ivor, the Secretary of the United Krobo Foundation, in an interview with Citi News indicated that the group will intensify its protest in the coming weeks if their concerns are not addressed by the appropriate agencies.
“We are tired of ECG, and we cannot work with them again. Secondly, we are ordering VRA to give us power supply straight from VRA.”
He also said the communities would be expecting some engagement on the matter following this protest.
“If we don’t hear anything from them, we will go on a massive demonstration and that one will be bigger than this one,” Mr. Ivor said.
