ECG has accepted it wrongly accused us of stealing electricity – Police Service

The Ghana Police Service has refuted reports in the media that the service engaged in electricity theft, stressing that after a meeting with officials of the Electricity Company of Ghana ( ECG), it was established that they did not steal any electricity and the ECG has regretted the wrongful accusation.

In a press release dated April 20, 2023, and signed by the Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service Grace Ansah-Akrofi, the service vehemently denied ever stealing electricity and blamed the lack of electricity meters at some of its barracks on the ECG that failed to install them.

The service emphasized that it has no motivation whatsoever to steal electrical power given that it is paid for by the Government and not individuals of the service.

“We would like to put on record that as a government institution, the payment of electricity by the police is centrally managed and not directly paid for by individual police officers or commands and therefore there is no incentive for the Service or any of its officers to steal electricity as alleged…

Our investigation revealed that at the Osu Barracks, the ECG disconnected three buildings because they had no electricity meters. A similar situation happened in Kumasi, where one building was disconnected because it didn’t have its dedicated meter.

Checks from our records indicate that the situation at both the Osu Police Barracks and the Kumasi Central Police Station has existed for some years now.

The investigation further established that all the connections at the Osu barracks and the Kumasi Central Police Station were done by the ECG directly to the poles since the ECG had indicated that did not have any meters available at the time. In both instances, the connections were done by officials of the ECG.

After the investigation, at the instance of the Inspector-General of Police, a meeting was held with the management of ECG where the outcome of our investigation to the effect that the police had not been involved in illegal connection or power theft was made known to them; which they accepted and expressed regret about the situation,” the press release read in part.

The ECG had accused the service of illegal connection resulting in the theft of electric power. But the service wants the accusation treated with utmost contempt as it has been established to be false.

“We would therefore like to call on the public to disregard the false claims of power theft and illegal connections levelled against the Police since there is no basis for the allegations,” the press statement added.