The provision of electricity is a privilege rather than a right. – ECG manager

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Samuel Mahama, the managing director of Electricity Company Ghana, has defended the decision to cut off power to the municipalities of Yilo and Manya Krobo.

Mr. Mahama said the disconnect was in place during an interview on Nana Akosua Konadu’s Hard Truth program on Tuesday.

The irony, he added, is that we go about believing that we have a right to electricity when in fact it is a privilege.

According to Mr. Mahama, “if I can give people prepaid in Fadama to hound them into paying their account, I should be able to do the same thing in Manya Krobo.” I should be able to ask folks in Dansoman to pay their bills using prepaid cards if I can do that in Yilo Krobo.

From Somanya to Kpong, communities in the towns of Yilo Krobo and Manya Krobo are not connected to the national grid.

Since Wednesday, July 27, the areas have been complete

without electricity as a result of Electricity Company Ghana (ECG) turning off feeders delivering power to settlements in the two municipalities due to unlawful connections.

ECG claims that certain obstinate residents who were disconnected for refusing to adopt prepaid meters had tampered with their transformers and reconnected power to their homes.

Families in the communities of Yilo and Manya Krobo claim that as a result of the power outage, mortuary operators are requesting them to come pick up their loved ones’ remains.

Corpses in mortuaries at Yilo, Manya Krobo decomposing – Youth Activist alleges

Edmund Aboagye, one of the local youth activists, claimed on Monday that five families had been repeatedly contacted by mortuary staff to come pick up their loved ones’ bodies because they were rotting within the facility.

He claims that the workers at the morgue claim they are unable to pay for the fuel needed to keep the facility running.

The hospitals have asked them to come and take up their dead corpses since they have started to go bad at the mortuary, he claimed. “I have had approximately four or five folks who have their family relatives of dead bodies at the mortuary phone to advise me of this,” he said.

Irina Offei, the director of municipal health for Yilo Krobo, commented on the situation but couldn’t confirm whether or not families had yet been contacted to pick up their loved ones’ bodies. But she went on to say that she was certain that “families will be asked to do that if the electricity is not restored by Wednesday.”

Madam Offei explained that the hospitals are now compelled to ration power because it is costing them more to keep the generators on.