Tension rises in Krobo as VRA refuses to give free power to residents
Tension is rising in the Krobo enclave of the Eastern Region after
the Volta River Authority (VRA) reneged on an agreement to provide
residents there free electricity.
Many postpaid customers in the Krobo Area have for years refused to pay electricity bills.
An attempt by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to carry out a
mass disconnection exercise as a result in 2017, triggered riot leading
to the damage of police properties including the torching of police
vehicles and multiple injuries.
Several moves by the ECG to get the residents to pay the huge arrears have not been successful.
A youth group in the area, calling itself the United Krobo
Foundation, made of leaders of various Krobo groupings called on the VRA
to as a matter of urgency uphold the agreement it had with them.
The group says the VRA owes the Krobos “free supply of electricity” after fifty years of operation on their land.
“We United Krobo Foundation is spearheading the course of this
struggle until VRA has complied with this directive as stated in the
Agreement Paper fifty years now,” said the group at a news conference
Thursday.
It added: “VRA has benefited tremendously from the Krobos but they
deliberately undermined the progress of the Krobos whose lands were used
for the construction of the Akosombo and Kpong dams respectively.”
The General Secretary of the group, Riffiths Samuel, who addressed
the presser, in Somanya gave the VRA two weeks ultimatum to come to the
negotiation table, warning that “Krobos have a history which cannot be
underestimated.
“These resources such as food crops, timber, acres of farmlands, palm
plantations just to mention a few were taken before the Dams were
constructed. Volta River Authority has left the Krobos in the mercy of
poverty and diseases,” said Samuel.
On 13 August, the group wrote to the VRA reminding it of its social
responsibilities for the resettlement areas of the Krobo land per the
MOU but the Authority did not acknowledge the letter.
Touching on the University of Environment and Sustainable
Development, the group warned that moving it from Somanya to Bunso will
stall the area’s development.
“Government is for sustainability and continuation. The project has
been put to stop, 90% of workers have been laid off,” said the group.