Members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have expressed worry about the consistent arrest of community water and sanitation officials by some police officers who have refused to settle water bills since 2011.
This came up during the Monday April 18th hearings of the PAC into the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Auditor General’s report.
The report discovered that some government institutions, including the Ghana Police Service, owed the Ghana Water Company over GHS71, 000.
Efforts to retrieve the monies have been unsuccessful as officials of the water company face intimidation and arrest from some of the institutions, especially the police.
Speaking at the PAC hearing, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Emmanuel Kwadwo Agyekum said his men were doing their best to collect debts owed the company.
“Currently we still have few outstanding. We have been able to recover GHS69, 148.50. We still have some outstanding but per the advice given to us by the committee last week, we have asked all the boards in Ghana to try and pursue the clients and try to take them to court so we can recover our monies. With the exception of few institutions that we have problems with the police and a few institutions as well,” he stated.
He accused the police of intimidating officers from the Ghana Water Company and refusing to pay their bills.
“Our officers are doing their best. Sometimes they even go to disconnect people and they get pursued by police in some cases …institutions like police if you go to collect your bills sometimes we have difficulties. They do not want you to disconnect them and they do not want to pay the bills as well, but our officers are doing their best to get our monies back,” he said.
“There have been instances our officers will go to disconnect the police and the police will actually arrest them. The only charge is that they have not paid their bills and our officers are disconnecting them.”
Chairman of PAC Kwaku Agyemang-Manu advised the Ministry to report police officers who arrest officials of the water company for disconnecting them because they owe bills to the Complaints Office of the Ghana Police Service or to the IGP.
“The police have a complaints unit and why will the Ministry not take it up with the IGP,” he wondered.
Mr Agyemang-Manu said the committee would have it in their report and give an extract to the IGP to caution his men, adding that “this type of arrest I think is abuse of power and intimidation”.
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