Power cuts may characterise the Christmas festivities if staff of the Ghana Grid Company Ltd (GRIDCo) carry out a planned industrial action from December 10.
GRIDCo staff have threatened to stop work completely from December 10 debts owed them by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) and the Volta Aluminum Company (VALCo) are not settled.
Presenting a petition to the Deputy Minister of Finance, Abena Osei Asare, on Tuesday after a mammoth protest march by hundreds of staff of GRIDCo, Chairman of National GRIDco Saff Association, Rafael Konor, said the total withdrawal of services would have started on Wednesday, December 4, but for the petition they have presented.
Mr Konor said the new critical date that the government and all stakeholders must note is December 10.
GRIDCo runs the National Interconnected Transmission System (NITS) which ensures the transmission of electricity from wholesale suppliers (generating companies) to bulk customers, which include the ECG, NEDCo among others.
GRIDCo staff are demanding that some GHS250 million which President Nana Akufo-Addo directed the Finance Minister to pay GRIDCo be carried out.
They are also demanding the following debts be paid immediately to GRIDCo: VALCo’s debt of about $32,567,974 as of September 30; ECG’s debt of about GHS607 million as of March 1, 2019; the PDS debt of GHS94,204, 903 which ECG collected during the suspension of the PDS; the NEDCo debt of about GHS177 million as of September 30, 2019.
The GRIDCO leadership has been pushing the payment of these millions since the beginning of this year.
Clad in red and black attires, protestors brandished placards on Tuesday to drum home their concerns and marched from the Black Star Square to the Finance Ministry.
Latest Stories
-
Man remanded for uploading nude videos of a lady he lured into a relationship
3 hours -
Explainer: What is the Cash Waterfall Mechanism?
3 hours -
Survivors of child trafficking overcome adversity, excel in tertiary education
4 hours -
Confront the barriers to your progress – Professor Lydia Aziato challenges the youth
4 hours -
Expertise France leads EU-funded initiative empowering African Journalists to combat human trafficking
4 hours -
Ghana Grows Programme empowers Ghanaian youth through Youth Policy Dialogue
4 hours -
Eastern NDC raises GHS5.4m to support Mahama’s 2024 campaign
5 hours -
Kumawood actress Akyere Bruwaa condemns death rumours
5 hours -
Ghana Institution of Engineering calls for proactive measures to prevent flood disaster
5 hours -
Who pays for the extra cost? – COCOBOD CEO questions EU on new regulations
5 hours -
‘Dumsor’ will be over by end of May – Former NPP MP assures
5 hours -
Power crisis is not about money – NPP Manifesto Committee member
5 hours -
Education Minister urges graduates to embrace opportunities
5 hours -
UN rights chief ‘horrified’ by mass grave reports at Gaza hospitals
6 hours -
We need more resources to deal with flooding – NADMO
6 hours