Salaga youth run riot

An angry mob in Salaga in the Gonja East District in the Northern region yesterday attacked the offices of the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) in protest against ongoing power outages in the community.

The mob made up of youth in the town was not happy with the ongoing power load shedding exercise in the area which they said had intensified in the last two weeks.

According to them, Salaga residents previously enjoyed uninterrupted power for three days (72 hours) and experienced blackout for 24 hours.

However, the outages increased since the beginning of the Holy month of Ramadan with electricity supplied for only six (6) hours and customers experiencing outages for the next 24 hours.

They were also not happy with what they said were the illegal activities of some VRA and NEDCo personnel who took delight in disconnecting customers for non-payment of bills and only reconnected them after taking bribes.

The extortions, they noted, had increased since the Ramadan begun.

“What even annoyed us the more is that even if you owe as little as ten (10) Ghana Cedis, they will disconnect you,” Mohammed Faisal, a protester told Today via phone.

The youth also contended that with Salaga being a trading hub it was reeling under the weight of the outages.

Numbering over two hundred, the mob marched to the offices of VRA that shares offices with NEDCo and pelted it with stones and other objects.

Northern Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Ken Yeboah, who confirmed the incident to Today, said the youth intended to demonstrate against VRA but were prevented by the police.

This was because of their failure to secure a permit, DCOP Yeboah explained.

According to him, he made the youth to understand that demonstrating without first notifying the police amounted to breach of the Public Order Act (Act 419).

He explained further that the police invited the leaders of the mob so they could meet the management of VRA and NEDCo to have their concerns addressed.
However, he said, some of them were not in agreement and subsequently left the meeting only to go and mount an attack on the offices.

DCOP Yeboah said immediately the police got wind of the attack they moved in to disperse them.

“They engaged in the destruction of public property so we had to intervene and stop them,” he stated, adding, no other property got damaged apart from the glass louvers.

He pointed out that no arrests were made immediately but indicated those who engaged in the act of vandalism would be arrested in due course.

According to him, the police did not want to heighten the already tensed atmosphere by making arrests in the heat of the melee.

It would be recalled that last week an angry mob in the Northern regional capital, Tamale, also attacked VRA and NEDCo offices to register their protest over erratic power supply within the Tamale metropolis.

It took the timely intervention of the police to repel the attackers who even managed to damage glass doors on the premises.