The national chairman aspirant of the new patriotic party, Akwasi Osei Adjei has called on the head of the Kejetia power suppliers.

Speaking on the Sompa tv morning show, on Monday, 27 June 2022, the affable politician lamented the constant power shortage at the Kejetia, giving room for an uncooperative attitude toward the payment of the electricity tariffs.

He called on the mayor to up his game in dealing with the traders and find amicable solutions to the issues.

"It's the responsibility of the managers to give a peaceful and serene environment for traders and equally provide them with the necessities like water, cleaning the place, and security, he said.

He cautioned that the canker can bring pressure on the economy.

"Let the system demands payment from them, they are supposed to pay what they have consumed, they must pay tariff operators, but if the system is not friendly, how do they also pay, and if they don’t pay, it's the government that suffers the penalty because the government has to bail out the electricity company of Ghana for them to also pay their suppliers like Gridco, generators and others, where do the government get that amount of money to pay such amount," he asked.

In solution to the long-standing brawl between the traders and the assembly, he said, the assembly should either adopt a solar system or hire a foreign company to configure each space with the needed meter in other to avoid all these power-cut problems.

He said it's a simple technology that the assembly should adopt to avoid such incidence going forward.

Earlier Reports

Sompa Tv reported that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is yet to restore power to the Kumasi Kejetia Market in the Ashanti region which was disconnected over 13 months of unpaid debt amounting to GHC5.4 million according to Sompa tv morning show monitored by sompaonline.com

The Kejetia Market power was disconnected by the power distribution company on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, as reported on Sompa news

Due to the power cut, the market opens late for traders and vehicles as they become stranded at the various entrances to the market due to visibility challenges.

Last Wednesday's exercise by the power distributor is the second time the Company has cut power to the market for lack of commitment to settle the debt.

The traders in the market have declined to pay bills for about 13 months.

President of the Federation of Kejetia Traders, Nana Kwesi Prempeh, bemoaned the services provided to the traders by the Kumasi City Market against its cost per month.

He said the decision not to pay the bills is to push for authorities of the market to approve their demand for each shop to be given a meter.

He explained the entire market has only one electricity meter which he described as unfortunate.

"Right after this media briefing, we will make sure all our members lock their shops and go home. We can't trade in this heat and darkness. These NPP government appointees in the Ashanti region are disappointing. 

How can a market with thousands of shops run on one electricity meter? We keep calling for separate meters for each shop and nobody is ready to listen to us, not even KMA mayor Sam Pyne,'' he disclosed.

Meanwhile, the Ashanti regional police commander and the Mayor of Kumasi have met with the leaders to suspend their planned protest on Monday.

The Ashanti Regional Manager of the ECG, David Asamoah told sompaonline.com that until the management of the market pays 50% of the used 13 months' power debt, he will not restore power to the market.

Source.......sompaonline.com/Eric Murphy Asare