The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, has responded to the calls of the staff of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Workers’ Union to apologise for the arrest of Mark Wiafe Asumani, one of the ECG General Managers in the region.
The staff of the Ashanti Regional branch of ECG are demanding an unqualified apology from the regional minister following a power cut at the Kumasi Technical University (KsTU) due to an outstanding debt of GHC1.2 million.
Mr Osei-Mensah, responding to their calls for an apology during a press conference in Kumasi on Thursday, April 24, 2024, said he would never show remorse for his actions.
Citing his role as a regional minister, he said he has the authority to undertake security operations.
“Do I have to apologise for doing my security work? What I want to tell you is that I asked the police to invite Ing Mark Asomani Wiafe on security grounds because of the happenings in the electricity sector in the region and the fact that a task force can always come from outside to disconnect without the proper information.
“What is ironic is that they tell me that they are not under me, and for that matter, I cannot tell them what to do, but they want to tell me how to execute my security responsibilities as enshrined in the Securities and Intelligence Act of 2020, Act 10(30)”.
The regional minister also revealed agreements between the ECG and the Kumasi Technical University to address the university’s outstanding debts.
At the press conference, Mr Osei-Mensah seized the opportunity to dismiss claims that some ECG managers are members of the Regional Security Council (REGSEC).
In response to the ECG workers’ threats of disconnecting his private residences from the national grid if he owed any bill, the minister said ECG has been overbilling him for electricity.
According to Mr Osei-Mensah, he does not owe ECG any outstanding payments for power consumption.
Additionally, the minister publicly criticised the ECG for not heeding the Security Council’s warnings to maintain an uninterrupted power supply at the residences of the President and his Vice president when they are in the Ashanti Region.
In a press statement dated Thursday, April 18, 2024, the ECG workers expressed their displeasure with the minister’s actions, asserting that they do not follow his directives in their operations but owe allegiance to ECG.
“We want the regional minister to know that ECG does not report to him and does not take instructions from him on all of its activities, including revenue mobilisation/collection”.
The staff of the Ashanti Regional branch of ECG has pledged to continue to clad themselves in red until the regional minister withdraws the case from the police station and apologises to the ECG fraternity.