ECG transfers official accused of extortion at Ada after The Fourth Estate’s exposé

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has transferred an official who was accused of extortion and abuse of office in the Ada district.

Nicholas Zube, who was the Ada District Technical Officer, has been transferred to the Tema Regional Office of the ECG.

The transfer follows an investigation by The Fourth Estate in June 2023, which exposed alleged exploitation of customers in the Ada area by some ECG staff.

ECG’s Tema Regional Public Relations Officer, Sakyiwaa Mensah, confirmed the transfer to The Fourth Estate.

“We can confirm that the said [staff] has been transferred from Ada District,” Ms Mensah said.

She attributed the transfer to “normal human resource issues” within ECG.

A source, who spoke to The Fourth Estate on condition of anonymity, said residents of Ada are happy Mr Zube is no longer in their town.

“Now we are free from ECG staff removing meters they fixed themselves and selling to other people,” the source said.

A resident at Kasseh in the Ada East district, Gabriel Apetorgbor, said the new ECG officials are doing better.

“The new staff have started well. When we reported to one of them that some customers were not receiving bills, [they were] swift in response,” he said.

In the investigative report published in June 2023, residents of Ada told The Fourth Estate that some ECG officials were ripping off unsuspecting customers.

The official, whose name came up most frequently in interviews, was Nicholas Zube.

“He came to remove a meter from the premises of a woman and told her that the meter did not come from the right source,” a resident told The Fourth Estate.

“I got the meter. I got it from him. I paid him. And later he went there to remove the meter again. The guy is making money at Ada and we don’t have anybody to [complain to],” he said.

The owner of Jehovah El Shaddai Susu Services at Kasseh, Francis Klokoto, also said that Mr Zube arbitrarily removed a meter he had bought from the ECG.

“My concern is that I don’t understand why ECG will fix a metre for me and the same ECG will come and remove the metre. When I called the office, they said this metre has been paid for so why did he remove it? When I asked him, he [Zube] told me I cannot get that metre back again,” Mr Klokoto said.

When The Fourth Estate contacted Mr Zube, he declined to comment on the complaints made against him.

When The Fourth Estate put its findings before the Tema Public Relations Officer, Sakyiwaa Mensah, she was worried and condemned the official’s actions.

She noted that any ECG official who takes money from customers on the field could be sacked, and encouraged customers to report such staff to superiors for swift action to be taken against them.

Ms Mensah entreated ECG customers to desist from making payments to ECG officials on the field. She said customers should always make payments at the company’s offices.