Electricity meter reader in court

Wilson Kumah, 39, alleged to have tampered with a meter belonging to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), rendering it incapable of indicating the number of units of power consumed, was put before a Madina Community Tribunal on Tuesday charged with fraud.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge and was remanded in prison custody by the tribunal, chaired by Mrs Ivy Heward-Mills.

The prosecution told the tribunal that at about 7:30am on August 23, Kumah, an employee of Baham Company Limited, a company contracted by the ECG to read meters, went to a house in Adenta near Accra to read the said meter.

He afterwards told the landlord, Ms Koshie Vanderpuiye, that he could tamper with the meter and render it incapable of reading the number of units used if she could pay ?1 million. While Kumah was executing the job, Koshie alerted ECG officials at Adenta who rushed to the scene and arrested him.

The tribunal rejected pleas by defence counsel, Lawrence Attipoe, for bail and mitigation of the damage done.

Kumah is to appear again on September 4.