Twenty-four customers of the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDco) in the Dohinaayili electoral area have been ordered by a Tamale circuit court to pay a total of 75,098.19 Ghana cedis for illegal connections and power theft.
The 24 were caught using power illegally which subsequently led to the disconnection of power to the entire Dohinaayili community.
According to authorities, in the forenoon of Wednesday July 5, 2017, a NEDco team was in Dohinayili with a court bailiff to issue court summons to some residents who had been caught by NEDco in various acts of illegal connections and power theft.
After an hour or so of working, the NEDco team including the bailiff had moved a significant distance away from the official NEDco-branded vehicle that conveyed them to the community.
At this point, a group of young men wielding clubs, machetes, sticks, metal bars, catapults and wooden planks with nails perforated through them, chanting antagonistic tunes and issuing threats moved towards the NEDco vehicle in search of the NEDco team.
Even though the community has apologized to the NEDco, the twenty four will still pay the fine imposed by the court.
Briefing the media in Tamale yesterday, The corporate communications director, Mr. Maxwell Kotoka cautioned and advised communities that have displayed such aggression towards the NEDco in the past as well as those who may be intending to do so that NEDco workers shall no more risk their lives and safety to work for the comfort of communities where their safety is not guaranteed.
The assemblyman for Dohinaayili electoral area, Mr. Abdul Wahab Fuseini, on behalf of the community apologized to NEDco for its action.
By Lilian W. Daborikuu
