Akyem Manso firm accuses ECG of sabotage
A wood processing factory at Akyem Manso near Oda in the Eastern Region, A.K. Ghana Wood, is accusing the management of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) at Oda of contributing to the destruction of five large motors belonging to it.
According to the management of the wood company, it had spent GH¢30,000 to repair the damaged motors.
The Managing Director of the company, Mr Ku Jang Youn, made the allegations at a press conference at Akyem Manso last Wednesday.
He said for reasons the company could not explain, its electricity bills shot up astronomically some months ago; and so it came to an agreement with the ECG to pay its bills by weekly instalments.
Mr Youn said even though the company had never defaulted in the weekly arrangements, the District Engineer of the ECG, Mr Daniel Dzikunu, sent personnel of the ECG to disconnect the company’s power supply on March 31, 2017 without prior notice.
He said the sudden disconnection of power by the ECG staff, who he described as lacking technical knowhow, resulted in very serious financial and material loss to the company. As a result of the power disconnection, he noted, five horse power motors, which were in operation at the time got damaged.
According to him, the company’s workforce of 350 people had since not been working, making the company lose a daily production income of GH¢60,000.
He said the company was not only demanding compensation from the ECG, but also requesting a refund of the GH¢30,000 it had spent on the repair of the damaged motors.
Mr Youn said he was worried that if the ECG would continue to frustrate industries with unnecessary power cuts, then the government’s one factory for each district in the country would suffer a setback.
When the Daily Graphic contacted Mr Dzikunu for his side of the story, he said as of March 7, 2017, the wood company owed the ECG GH¢626,578.83, hence the decision to disconnect its power supply.
He, however, denied that the ECG staff he sent on the disconnection exercise were inexperienced.
“These are professionals who embark on such exercises routinely for the company,” he said.
According to Mr Dzikunu, before A.K. Ghana Wood was disconnected, one of the three phases of electricity power units was down already and that was what caused its motors to get damaged.