Man Nabbed For Illegal Connection

Story By Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu,
Takoradi
Posted - Thu, 26 Apr 2007
Officials of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) have arrested a car washing bay operator for illegal connection.

The operator, Isaiah Obeng, had earlier been disconnected for non-payment of bills but he contracted a plumber to reconnect the water through another channel, which did not pass through the meter for him to be billed.

When officials of the GWCL visited the bay on their regular inspection tour of the metropolis, they demanded from those working there the source of the water they were using.

The workers told the officials that it was an underground reservoir which supplied them with the water but the officials were not convinced and demanded to see the meter.

It was upon checking the meter that they discovered Obeng had channelled the water through a different means to its operation point.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Takoradi District Commercial Manager of the GWCL, Mrs Genevieve Ayim, said the operator of the washing bay was disconnected for non-payment of bills in 2005 but he did not settle or even negotiate on the payment of his bills, since he had found a new way of accessing water for his business.

The district manager said the GWCL would calculate the volume of water he had used over the years and ask him to pay, adding that Obeng would be handed over to the police if he failed to settle his debt.

Mrs Ayim announced that the company had set up a Loss Control Unit to check people who had adopted dubious means of cheating the system.

The workers told this reporter that Obeng collapsed on his way to the washing bay after he had been told that the illegal connection had been discovered by officials of the GWCL and he was rushed to the hospital.