NDC congress in limbo as Baba Yara is disconnected by ECG

With about 10 days to go for the national congress of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), the party seems to have been hit by a major setback which could stall the December 20 congress in Kumasi.

Venue for the much-anticipated congress, the Baba Yara Sports stadium in Kumasi has been disconnected from the national electricity grid for owing the Electricity Company of Ghana, an amount of GH¢ 220,000.

According to the ECG, power would only be restored to the stadium if the debt is paid in full. With the recent development, the National Democratic Congress may have to “provide their own electricity and water” for their congress, thus according to the Ashanti regional director of the National Sports Council, Richard Ewuntomah Iddrissu.

He further indicated that “we’ve told them about the unavailability of power in the stadium, so they know about the power problem.”

The NDC has given indications that plans are far advanced for the congress, but the issue of availability of electricity has not been addressed by the party.

In an interview with TV3 news, the Ashanti regional Director of the National Sports Council, Richard Ewuntomah Iddrisu indicated that “we have generators here at the stadium, but we only use it for office work. We [National Sports Council] alone cannot foot the bill and we’re pleading with government to at least come and help us with about half of it.”

The ECG in the Ashanti region last month disconnected a number of institutions including Kumasi Technical Institute (KTI) which owed GH¢ 329,000. Kumasi Polytechnic was also disconnected for owing about GH¢ 3 million but was later reconnected when it made a part payment of GH¢ 625,000.

Questions are being asked if the bill would be cleared before the congress and who would bear that cost? There are concerns also being raised as to whether the governing party would use its ‘powers’ to ‘coerce’ the ECG to turn on the power for the duration of the congress and turn it off afterwards.

We wait to see.