E/R: One shot dead in clash with PDS workers over mass disconnection

A 14-year old boy has been shot dead and several others injured at Agomanya in the Eastern region following a clash between the police and residents protesting a mass disconnection exercise by the Power Distribution Service (PDS). The boy was hit by a stray bullet when residents clashed with some police personnel who were escorting the PDS team in the disconnection exercise on Wednesday, May 22. Some PDS officials at the Krobo District office reportedly switched off the main transformer over the local’s refusal to pay their electricity bills. The residents who did not take this decision lightly tried to stop the officials, and this resulted in a scuffle. In an attempt to restore calm, the police fired warning shots to disperse the crowd, shooting one person dead and injury others in the process. Speaking on the mass disconnection exercise on TV3 News 360, the Member of Parliament for Lower Manya Krobo, Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi said he was disappointed with the decision by the PDS to embark on the mass disconnection. According to him, he had spoken with management of the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) to call the PDS to dialogue with the locals on how to settle their debts. “This morning the indication from PURC was that they had told the Tema region that they should hold on the mass disconnection because there was a petition before them. I was not expecting today that PDS will go back to disconnect our people. “We had agreed that there is going to be a stakeholder meeting which is going to be mediated by PURC in Tema on Friday. I have been preparing for that meeting only to hear that the police and PDS have gone back and there is chaos all over the place”, he said. By Paul Selorm Agbo | 3news.com | Ghana]]>