Some ‘unscrupulous’ individuals have disconnected the Western Regional Coordinating Council (WRCC) and other state offices from the national electricity grid at Sekondi.

The Incident affected power supply to institutions like the Passport Office, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), West African Examination Council (WAEC), National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and the St. Paul’s Anglican Church at Sekondi.

It had also left some residents across the sub-metro without power, affecting essential services like hospitals, schools, and offices among others.

Checks by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) revealed that the incident was believed to have been carried out by highly skilled cybercriminals, who stole key transmitter switches from critical infrastructure sites and drained the oil from two transformer switches.

The Western Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), confirming the incident to the GNA said the unidentified persons vandalised a 200kVA ground-mounted transformer that served the area.

He said the individuals drained the oil from the two transformer switches resulting in the power outage at the WRCC.

He noted that: “The incident might be motivated by financial gain, as the theft of critical infrastructure equipment could be sold on the black market, but we have reported to the police and investigations are being carried out.”

Mr Boye advised the public to be vigilant and report any suspected unusual activity around ECG installations to the police or the ECG to avoid such occurrences.

Meanwhile, he urged the residents to remain calm while they worked tirelessly to restore power to the affected areas.

A resident who spoke with the GNA said, “This is a major breach of security, and we are taking this matter very seriously. The ECG must work with agencies and cybersecurity experts to investigate the attack and restore power to the affected areas as quickly as possible.”