Stop Stealing Cables, MP tells public

Hon. Albert Kwaku Obbin, Member of Parliament (MP) for Prestea/Huni-Valley constituency has warned cable thieves in Bondaye to stop stealing the electric cables, which serves the community.

Mr. Obbin described as an unfortunate the rate at which electric cables were being stolen at Bondaye near Prestea. He has therefore asked the people of Bondaye to serve as watchdogs to protect the electric cables and also help arrest the cable thieves for them to be punished.

He regretted that cables worth more than ¢30m were stolen in the course of rewiring Bondaye lighting system necessitated by the break down of the old transformer. The MP said these at a meeting with Bondaye people to inform them of the completion of the rewiring project and replacement of the old transformer.

The rewiring cost the Electrification Committee 90 million cedis out of which 30 million cedis worth of cables were stolen. On completion of the project, the people of Bondaye would enjoy electricity supply after over 10 months of blackout.

He disclosed that Electricity Company of Ghana would come and take over the transformer, replace the old iron poles with wooden ones and supply meters to households. He said high-tension poles would be purchased to extend electricity from Prestea to Mbeasi Nsuta to hook those communities to the national grid.

Touching on the galamsey issue at Four Bungalow at Prestea, the MP pleaded with the people to stop operating in the aea. He however, said not all those operating there were illegal miners, some were registered small scale miners and therefore seizing their grinding mills was not meaningful and promised to follow up for the release of those machines.

He pleaded with the galamsey operators to exercise restrain to avoid making their case worse because the issue bothers on the survival of the people. Baba Salifu, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Supervisor who was a member of the electrification committee said owing to the expansion of Bondaye community the transformer could not match the required voltage for the community and thus could not supply the needed power.

He pleaded with the people to expose the cable thieves, promising one million cedis reward for those who will give a clue leading to their arrest.GNA