As the docket to prosecute Dr Josiah Aryeh, the NDC General Secretary who is at the center of alleged illegal electricity connection is being prepared, the Statesman newspaper says some payments have been made to cover the illegal power consumption from May 2001 to date. Well-informed sources at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) told the Statesman that following the revelation of the power theft at Dr Aryeh’s residence at East Legon in Accra, he is alleged to have quickly made payment to the tune of over 6 million cedis to the ECG. The payment, the source said, is to cover penalty on the illegal consumption.

According to the source, the payment made by the University of Ghana law lecturer is a clear admission of stealing power. Even after establishing that the NDC General Secretary had been consuming power illegally in his East Legon residence, efforts by the police to interrogate him has so far proved futile. The law lecturer was, however heard on JOY FM accusing the government for his predicament. According to Dr Aryeh, the government was behind the spirited attempts to drag him to court saying “I will defend myself defiantly” in apparent reference to the new political lexicon, courtesy J. J. Rawlings and the apostles of positive defiance.

But political analysts said the NDC General Secretary’s interview on JOY FM was a pre-emptive strike, aimed at preparing the minds of the public to the effect that he was being persecuted. “If that was the case, then, Dr Josiah Aryeh has failed woefully”, said Ahmed Sadat, a resident of Nima. Sadat was particularly peeved that the lecturer should have known that electricity consumption is not free.

He expressed the hope that Dr Aryeh would be allowed to face the consequences of his action, citing a Daily Graphic publication of Tuesday, August 13, 2002. The said publication noted that 24 people were arrested in Wa for connecting electricity to their businesses illegally. The story quoted the Inspector Daniel Dorkpoh of the Regional Public Relations Directorate Unit as saying “notwithstanding the penalties paid by the affected businesses, their docket are being processed for courts”. It would be recalled that in the second week of this month officials of the ECG on a routine check discovered that Dr Aryeh’s house was illegally connected without an ECG meter.