News:
November 17, 2014
Parliament has denied media reports that it owes the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) over GHc 1 million being accumulated bills for 2013 and 2014.
The leadership of the House explained that the said amount is the debt owed by other public institutions whose offices are also situated in enclave of the State House.
These public institutions include the State Protocol and the Chieftaincy Ministry.
Media reports said that officials of the ECG stormed Parliament to disconnect their power supply due to the non-payment of bills for two years.
The Deputy Director of Public Affairs at Parliament, Kate Addo denied the reports, clarifying that the ECG officials were at the Parlaiment House to discuss how to separately bill the various agencies situated in the State House.
In an interview with Citi News, Kate Addo stressed that it is unfair for Parliament to be solely accused for owing ECG the over GHC 1 million.
She said: “The bill was not exclusively for Parliament. We have the banquet hall behind us, the State Protocol and the Chieftaincy Ministry and we even have the living quarters forming part of the original State House building so when a bill is brought like that, it encompasses all those buildings.”
She insisted that Parliament does not owe the ECG GHC 1 million “and if a bill is brought for two years, it means Parliament will owe something.”
The ECG is currently undertaking a disconnection exercise to retrieve all debts owed it.
Some institutions which had their power disconnected in the Ashanti Region included the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, the Kumasi campus of the University of Education, as well as the Kumasi Branch of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC).
The others are Oware Mines, Konongo-Odumasi Mines, Kumasi Polytechnic and the Kumasi Cultural Center.
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