March 7

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2018
Hit-and-run must stop
NOBLE PRIZE winner and
anti-apartheid icon, Nelson
Rolihlahla Mandela once said
“when a man is denied the right
to live the life he believes in, he
has no choice but to become an
outlaw.”
It is also said that no one is
born a criminal, but it’s society
that makes him so. Society indeed
has significant roles to play
in the shaping of norms and attitudes
of its citizens.
When for a long period of
time individuals begin to lose
faith in authorities, the cumulative
effect is a society full of lawless
and heartless people.
In Ghana, stories are told of
criminals who are left off the
hook moments after they are arrested
because the Police had
been compromised. This has led
to lack of trust in the Police,
hence the taking of the law into
people’s own hands.
Many a time, when a driver
knocks down someone, especially
in populated areas, the
driver is beaten to pulp or
lynched. The assumption is that
the driver is into money rituals
and needs blood sacrifice, so
must be paid back in his own
coins.
In society’s bid to mete out
instance justice to such drivers,
a canker of hit-and-run evolved
where drivers knock down motorists
and bolt.
This evil trend has gotten out
of hand. Even in situations
where drivers could help people
they knock down; they leave
them to their fate. This, in our
view, ought to stop.
The DAILY HERITAGE
is therefore appealing to drivers
to stop this evil hit-and-run
practice because it is gradually
tearing society apart.
We also appeal to those who
take the law into their hands to
stop the lynching of drivers.
This way, lives could be saved
when drivers mistakenly knock
down motorists.
ECG to name and
shame power thieves
BY KOJO ANSAH
THE EASTERN
Regional branch
of the Electricity
Company of
Ghana (ECG) is
to use a ‘name
and shame’ strategy in tandem
with prosecution of culprits
to deal with growing
illegal connection in the region.
The region, through the efforts
of the Revenue Protection
Unit (RPU), retrieved
GH¢ 87,893.00 from detected
illegal connections such as
meter tempering ,unauthorised
service connections
,damaged meter ,bypass ,and
self-reconnection in the system
in 2017.
The Eastern Regional
•Michael Baah, Eastern Regional Manager, ECG
Manager, Ing. Michael Baah
said this during an interaction
with the media on operations
of the company in the region.
"The illegal connection incidents
in the Eastern Region
increased over the past two
years due to increase in electricity
tariff. Since the time
the tariff was increased, people
started to at least carry
out illegal connections and
these affected us," the regional
manager stated.
He added that "we have instituted
measures dubbed
‘name and shame’ of culprits
of illegal connection activities.
The company will not
hesitate to broadcast and publish
the names and pictures of
culprits of illegal connection
activities in the media. Furthermore,
perpetrators of illegal
connection activities
would be brought before a
competent court of jurisdiction
to be prosecuted."
He also mentioned cable
theft, non-payment of bills
and bush fires as some of the
challenges militating against
the operations of ECG in the
region.
Despite these challenges,
the company connected
27,737 customers across the
region in 2017 through government's
Self Help Electrification
Project and ECG's
Rural Electrification Project.
Three Customer Service
Centers worth GH¢
1,747,455.24 have also been
constructed to serve customers
around Anyinam,
Kukurantumi and Abetifi as
part of decentralisation of its
services.