The national leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has paid a working visit to the Lower Manya and Yilo Krobo areas.
The visit on Friday was part of an ongoing membership drive and reorganisation activities in the Eastern Region.
This visit comes in the wake of a recent standoff between indigenes of these communities and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), which resulted in the latter disconnecting electricity supply to these areas for several weeks.
Having followed developments in the Krobo enclave and interacted with the chiefs and people of the area, the party has become aware of the longstanding impasse between residents and the ECG over the installation of prepaid meters, which not long ago degenerated into violent protests, leading to loss of lives in the process.
The party’s leadership, in a statement signed by the Chairman, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, indicated they are appalled at how the simple process of installing prepaid meters for residents in these communities has been badly managed by the Akufo-Addo government, the Ministry of Energy and ECG.
“We hold the view that the military-backed forced installation of prepaid meters in the area without proper community engagement and sensitisation was completely unnecessary.
“The recent crisis has brought economic activities in the Krobo area to a halt and exacerbated the hardships the people in the area are already reeling under. Hospitals were forced to shut down leading to loss of lives, while schools, businesses and households all bore the brunt of the nearly one-month freeze on electricity supply to these areas,” a portion of the statement read.
The NDC says it condemns in no uncertain terms government’s high-handed approach to resolving these issues and the brutalities meted out to innocent citizens in the area by the military.
“We sympathise with the residents of these communities who have been at the receiving end of such mistreatment by the government through its agents.
“We call on government to, as a matter of urgency, withdraw all military personnel who have been deployed to the Krobo area in order to ease the unnecessary tension and give way for citizens to go about their normal lives freely.
“The Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government must change its modus operandi and adopt a humane approach in addressing the Kroboland- ECG crisis,” the statement added.