Tema ECG denies giving up whistleblower

TEMA office of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has denied giving up a whistleblower in an allegation of illegal connection and causing damage.
A poultry farmer in Ada reported a case of causing damage to a property and the suspect is before court.

According to ECG, it had no hand and knowledge in the prosecution of the supposed whistleblower in a case of causing damage being handled by the Sege Police.

A media publication suggested a supposed ECG informant by name Richard Ackwerh is on trial after the company was informed of an alleged illegal connection by the informant and the company did not protect the identity of the informant.

Per the publication, Richard Ackwerh admited that he damaged cables which had been used for the alleged illegal connection from his house to a poultry farm on February 13, 2021.

However, addressing a press conference in Tema on Tuesday, Emmanuel Tetteh Akinie, General Manager of Tema ECG explained that the Tema Regional Engineer, received a report via phone of an issue with electricity supply at a location in Hwakpo on July 26, 2021.

“This report was via a phone call by someone but not Richard Ackwerh. The Regional Engineer referred the issue to the Ada District Engineer who spoke with the caller. The caller informed him that he would let another person call to direct him to the exact location. The person called the Ada District Engineer on July 28, 2021. On the same day, the Ada District dispatched a Team to the location. Upon reaching there, they realized they 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.

“The media publications also say that on February 13, 2021, the gentleman on trial destroyed cables which had been used to connect power illegally.

ECG would want 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,” he said.

He indicated that 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 unauthorized service connection and was asked to report to the Revenue Protection Unit at the Tema Regional Office for further action,” he clarified.

He mentioned that ECG is also not in court with anyone from Hwakpo currently and does not have a record of a report of illegality from Richard Ackwerh.

“Again, it is worthy to note that Richard Ackwerh, the accused, is standing trial for personally causing damage to cables of the poultry farmer, and not because ECG gave up his identity as a whistleblower. The case in court is between him and the poultry farmer who reported his conduct of damaging the cables to the Police, the Tema ECG boss mentioned

Ing. Akinie however stated that the Company is doing its investigations in the matter to ensure the state does not lose any revenue in the issue.

ECG continues to assure the public of its utmost confidentiality and protection of informants and would continue to plead that suspected cases of illegal connection should please be reported to the Company.

The company says it takes issues of whistleblowers seriously, and goes to all extent to protect the identities of whistleblowers, adding that the Company does not give out the identity of whistleblowers to any third party, including the Police.

Daily Guide