Load Shedding Demo: Woyongo Vows To Arrest Lawless Youth

Interior Minister Mark Woyongo has sent a strong warning to angry youth protesting the ongoing load shedding exercise to desist from destroying public property or will be arrested. While he empathizes with the anger of many Ghanaians over the ongoing load shedding exercise, the minister said the youth cannot use anger as an excuse to destroy public property. His comments come a day after youths from two suburbs in Accra - Tabora and Odorkor- went on rampage blocking major roads and destroying properties owned by the ECG all in protest against the erratic outages. A polytank belonging to the ECG was said to have been destroyed at the Kwashieman ECG substation by the Tabora youth. The security man at the station was nearly beaten, Joy News reported. In Odorkor, the youth blocked the main Kaneshie-Odorkor road, chanting and hurling insults at the government and the various power generating companies. They claimed for several days their lights had been off with no explanation from generators and distributors. But for the quick intervention of the military, the situation may have escalated. Mark Woyongo said such actions would not be tolerated in the near future. "The next time they destroy public property police would arrest them," he stated. In an interview with Joy News, security expert with the West Africa Network for Peace building, Dr Emmanuel Bombande said the ongoing load shedding and its attendant protests are a major national security threat. He would rather a more robust outreach is embarked on to educate the public and to explain what is happening.