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The Kejetia Market in Kumasi has been without electricity for three days due to a seven-million-cedi debt owed to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
The ECG disconnected the power supply after the facility management failed to adhere to a scheduled debt repayment plan. Despite claims from the traders that they have consistently paid their electricity bills to Kumasi City Markets Limited, the ECG asserts that the market has not honored its part of the agreement established in April, when power was previously disconnected over a debt of GH¢9.7 million.
Also read: Excessive Tax Exemptions Eroding Ghana’s Revenue Potential – World Bank
Traders are frustrated, insisting they are not responsible for the debt and demanding clarity on the source of the arrears. Managing Director of Kumasi City Markets, Edmond Kofi Duffuor, counters that the company has been committed to reducing the debt, having paid GH¢3.1 million of the original GH¢7.2 million. He claims that only GH¢2.0 million remains and that arrangements have been made to pay GH¢100,000 daily until the debt is settled.
Efforts are underway to restore power, but traders are calling for a change in market management, accusing the current leadership of mismanagement and causing unnecessary suffering.
