The Management of Ghana Water Limited (GWL), Accra West Region, has caused the arrest and subsequent conviction of a 20-year old Nigerian man, Abdul Abubakari Sadiq, for stealing a water meter.
Mr. Sadiq was convicted by the Weija Circuit Court on his own plea of intentionally and unlawfully causing damage to the meter belonging to GWL.
The Court, presided over by justice James Kojo Botah on Tuesday, February 27, leveled two charges against Mr. Sadiq.
While he pleaded guilty to the first charge of intentionally and unlawfully causing damage to public property, he claimed he was innocent on count two, which sought to charge him for stealing, although he was caught with the meter in his sack.
Mr. Abubakari Sadiq was sentenced to pay a fine of GHȼ2,400 or face a 6-month jail term and was also asked to reappear before the Court on Thursday, April 11 for a hearing on count two of his charge.
On Friday, February 23, Mr. Abdul Abubakari Sadiq was caught by a resident of Kasoa Amanfrom Toptown with a water meter and a standpipe tap in his sack.
Sadiq, who was earlier seen strolling in the area with his scrap dealer’s truck, entered a compound and broke the meter there, thinking there was no one at home.
The noise of the breakage woke an occupant of the house up and Sadiq was accosted and sent to the Amanfrom Police Station.
He was subsequently arraigned before the Weija Circuit Court and convicted on Tuesday, February 27.
In September 2023, Mr. Marvin Godwin, also a Nigerian man, was arrested in Kasoa Nyanyano for meter theft and was convicted by Her Worship Linda Amissah at the Ofaakor Circuit Court.
He is still serving his sentence in jail.
Meter Stealing is one of the challenges GWL faces in its operations and the Kasoa/Nyanyano area in Accra West Region is notorious for this.
Barely a day passes without our district offices in those communities receiving reports of missing meters.
This challenge impedes greatly GWL’s objective of achieving a 100% metering ratio nationwide.
“It is important to note that without water meters, our customers are billed on estimates, a situation which usually generates undue tension between them (customers) and our commercial officers,” management of GWL Accra West Region said.
“As we seek to win the battle against meter stealing, we will bring all culprits to book and ensure they receive the appropriate punishments.”
It urged the public “to be on the lookout for such miscreants and report them to the police for redress”.