The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) says it is committed to protecting its informants, thus, it is never true that, it disclosed the identity of an accused person standing trial for damaging the cables of a poultry farmer at Hwakpo, West Ada District.
Therefore, the accused, Richard Ackwerh, a carpenter, the ECG explained is standing trial for personally causing damage to cables of the poultry farmer, the complainant, and not because ECG gave up his identity as a whistle-blower.
Ing. Emmanuel Akinie, the Tema Regional ECG General Manager, in a press statement, explained that the case at the Sege District Court is between the accused and the poultry farmer who reported the former’s conduct of damaging the cables to the police.
Richard Ackwerh was put in the dock on July 26, 2021, by Chief Inspector Francis Acquaye, the prosecutor, for damaging electrical cables valued at GHȻ540, being the property of David Nomotey, the complainant, on February 13, 2021.
Subsequently, the court had granted him a self-cognisance bail after admitting his offence but with an explanation, the Ackwerhs laid blame at the doorsteps of the Ada District ECG for negligence in acting when their son called them earlier to inform them about the illegal connection he had detected.
Had the ECG acted in time on their son’s information, the Ackwerhs’ said their son would not have committed the offence which he had admitted in court.
That, the Ackwerhs reiterated was their disappointment in the ECG to act swiftly to protect its informant.
In its response to the claims by the Ackwerhs, Ing Akinie, the Tema Regional General Manager, clarified that, on July 26, 2021, ECG Limited, through its Tema Regional Engineer, received a report of an issue with electricity supply at a location in Hwakpo. He stated the report was via a telephone call by someone but not Richard Ackwerh.
He said, the Regional Engineer referred the issue to the Ada District Engineer who spoke with the caller, who informed him that he would let another person call to direct him (ECG District Engineer) to the exact location.
Ing. Akinie continued: “The person called the Ada District Engineer on July 28, 2021, and on the same day, the Ada District dispatched a team to the location where the team realised it had to inform the Revenue Protection (RP) Unit because the issue had to do with an illegal connection of supply. The Revenue Protection Unit visited the site on July 29, 2021, to ascertain the truth of the allegation. Investigations carried out on July 29, 2021 revealed that a poultry farm has connected supply from a nearby residence. The cables, which were also found out to be substandard, were removed and brought to the Tema Regional Office”.
“The poultry farmer was served with a notice of unauthorised service connection and was asked to report to the Revenue Protection Unit at the Tema Regional Office for further action. The ECG wants to make it clear that the Company became aware of the possibility of illegal connection at this place on July 29, 2021. ECG did not know about the act of destroying the cables and the subsequent police report”.
“Electricity Company of Ghana Limited takes issues of whistle-blowers seriously, and goes to all extent to protect the identities of whistle-blowers. The company does not give out the identity of whistle-blowers to any third party, including the police. The staff is seriously cautioned against such acts and is reminded to work with utmost confidentiality regarding the identity of whistle-blowers. It is, therefore, unfortunate that media publications have been presented as if ECG gave out its whistle-blower, as the company has not reported any informant to the police.”
Ing Akinie was clear, therefore, that neither is the ECG in court with anyone from Hwakpo nor has a record of a report of illegality from Richard Ackwerh.
He assured the public of the ECG’s confidentiality and protection of informants and would continue to plead that suspected cases of illegal connection should please be reported to the Company.
By: Umar Sheriff Musah