The Odumase Bill that resulted in death

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Thomas Partey's life cost him his life. Too fast to offer him the luxury of screaming or writhing in pain, say eyewitnesses.

It would also seem as fast as Powe Distribution Service (PDS) officials cut power during a mbad disconnection exercise in the Eastern Region.

The 14-year-old has died from a 3-year-old problem – "extremely outrageous" electricity bills in the lower region of Manya Krobo.

The bills were "quadrupled," resident Teye told Joy New Friday, while her autopsy continued under Wednesday's violence, but not after her death.

He stated that in 2014, they realized that their invoices had not been sent. Nobody pays the bills with a smile and they do not immediately frown.

But they would later inquire about the cause of the delay at the ECG district offices (now the PDS). That would be coming soon, badurances were received as residents prepared to end gifts.

They did not prepare enough.

"Before, my bill was about 35 Cedis. But when he arrived, he exploded – more than 1,000 cedis, "said Nyakotey, a resident, at Myjoyonline.com. He added that residents of mixed houses that once divided a 200 cedis bill now have to split 1,500 cedis in 2000 cedis.

In a community of small businesses, traders and farmers, the bill amounts to 7,500.

Their ridicule has comforted their ridicule, knowing that something is wrong somewhere. And something was wrong, Teye said he found out after another visit to the ECG office with a little polite anger.

According to him, ECG officials explained that the problem was faulty billing software. The problem would be solved, badurances would be provided and the inhabitants breathed a sigh of relief.

"But nothing has been done about it," he would come to learn after more visits carrying few fruits and more stone walls. The groans, the calls, the threats – have not changed the official conclusion that the bill was as true as an audit report – they have to pay.

Joseph Mensah Forson, general manager of PDS for the Tema region, explained that there was no overbilling. Residents may have used power freely for "probably one, two or three years".

He said that between 2014 and 2019, unpaid bills in the lower region of Manya Krobo amounted to about 86 million cedis.

But in the minds of the residents, something broke. A cork burst. And they quickly learned the language of violence.

This is so that the Somanya ECG office was attacked this Friday of May 2017.

& # 39; Help, Help, Help we are attacked, "as the ECG officers barricaded themselves inside the newly-appointed office as a spontaneous siege, smashing windows.

Twelve (12) were arrested while the state had established the law. What has not been stopped is the problem.

Three days after the arrests, residents again struck. Peace and disorder are now switches that switch on and off as the current pbades through the Lower Manya Krobo.

The power cut exercises in the area are a national security exercise. A cohort of police officers provides coverage and discourages threats as PDS officials work to shut down the power.

After serious injuries, mbad destruction of property and several arrests, the disagreement over the bills led to the first murder in Agormenya.

Hundreds of young people stormed the road to the office of the director general of the municipality, Ebenezer Tetteh, Eastern Region Police Public Relations Officer, Deputy Police Superintendent (DSP).

Throwing stones, brandishing murderous tools, the angry young man tried his luck against the firepower of the police, which provoked waves of reinforcements. In the hot afternoon, Thomas Partey would have been hit and his lifeless body left in the sun for several hours.

Sammy Partey, the uncle of the deceased cried. He took care of Thomas after the death of his father at the age of four, he told JoyNews.

He was a "jolly" boy who could "dispel your grief," he said. "He's going to dance and then you forget everything you think about," he recalled the lost talent.

There has been no statement from the police about his death. Since Wednesday, officials, chiefs, opinion leaders and police chiefs have crammed into meetings.

Regional Minister for the East, Eric Kwakye Darfuor, Thursday addressed one of them, where he wrote: "if you can not pay the bills, turn off the power."

But he would not talk much about Thomas after Edwin Kofi Siaw, regional correspondent for JoyNews, approached him for a comment.

There was a meeting of the East Region Security Council where the PDS was asked to do more disconnection exercises but with a human face.

There is another meeting as the Minister of Energy and representatives of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission visit the region to further their discussions on the protracted problem.

But the blood of Thomas Partey becomes water under the bridge.