MP, 15 Others In Trouble Over Power Theft

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has issued a writ of summons to Ebenezer Teye Larbi, Member of Parliament (MP) for Lower Manya in the Eastern Region. The MP has been arrested together with some 15 other persons for allegedly using power illegally. The illegality was detected during routine checks on the company’s

meters at Lorlonyo, Kpong, and Odumase in its Krobo District enclave by a team of engineers from the ECG and the Military. Sakyiwaa Mensah, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of ECG in the Region told the media that,  a writ of summons was handed over to the caretaker of the house who was present after

the disconnection of the illegal power because the MP was not at home. The MP has denied the allegation, claiming that it was a set up. Giving details on how the illegality was detected, she mentioned that the MP sometime back reported the missing of two of the four meters on his compound. The MP, according to the PRO,

presented a police report as requested by ECG, adding that the issue was still being handled with some internal processes. As things stand today, those apartments that do not have the meters are supposed to have been disconnected, however on our monitoring, we realized that those two apartments have power and upon further

investigations on the field we realized that the two have been connected from a third meter, on his premises, she said. This she indicated that ECG considered this as an illegal connection and has, therefore, disconnected power to the three apartments, and expected them to be off. According to her, the other residents, who engaged in

the illegalities fled their homes when they got wind that ECG was doing monitoring and had already accosted others for engaging in such acts. The ECG has therefore implored customers to comply with the laws and desist from illegal power connections. She said the law gave ECG the power to prosecute cases of illegal connections which could lead to a fine or a jail term.