Tamale in darkness as residents attack NEDCO staff

Several communities in the Tamale metropolis are likely to be in total darkness for a very longtime.

This follows attacks on some workers of the Northern Electricity Company (NEDCO) by some angry residents of Dohanayili, a suburb of Tamale, in the Northern Region.

Today learnt that workers of NEDCO went round in the community to check on houses that had engaged in illegal connections, and consequently serve them with court writs.

But, the youth of the area, who were not happy with the exercise by the NEDCO workers, Today further gathered, chased them with cutlasses, catapults, clubs and stones.

They also threatened to kill them if they dared come to the area again.

The workers of NEDCO who feared for their lives, Today was told, took to their heels, leaving their vehicle behind.

And as if that was not enough, the angry youth, according to some residents of the area who spoke to Today on condition of anonymity, grounded the said vehicle by deflating its tyres.

The action(s) by the youth, Today understands, consequently angered the management of NEDCO who in turn plunged the entire Dohanayili community including Fuo, Kukuo, Kobilmagu, Kpembeigu, Gumani, Kanville and Kanville-Tunayili into total darkness by cutting them off from the national grid.

But speaking in an interview with this reporter, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the NEDCO, Mr. Alhassan Ababa, who was obviously not happy with the actions of the youth of the area, denied taking the community from the national grid. According to him, the current power outage in the area was as a result of a heavy downpour which occurred over the weekend, destroying some of the electrical wires of NEDCO, thereby causing the problem. Notwithstanding that, he said, his outfit would have fixed the problem, but for the fear of their lives. “Until the problem is resolved and the community assures our workers that their lives are safe, there is no way we will go there to resolve the problem. The workers are not ready to move there and we cannot force them to go because their lives are also important,” he stressed. Mr. Ababa said even though no arrest(s) had been made by the police so far, their vehicle had been sent back to them. He indicated that his outfit will seek a legal advice on the matter, and how to ensure the community people use electricity legally. Meanwhile, this is not the first time some residents of Tamale and its environs had attacked workers of the Volta River Authority (VRA) and NEDCO. It would be recalled that somewhere last year, some workers of the two companies were physically assaulted by some residents at Lamakalah, a suburb of Tamale. Mr. Anaba, therefore, urged leaders of Dohanayili community to hand over those who attacked the NEDCO workers to the police for them to be dealt with accordingly.