MoE reacts to ’48 hour’ lights out at Accra Academy SHS over debt

The Ministry of Education (MoE) after the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) disconnected Accra Academy Senior High School from the national grid on February 19, 2024, says measures to avoid future instances of the situation have been put in place.

MoE’s spokesman, Kwasi Kwarteng reacting to the incident said “Regarding the power-cut issue at Accra Academy SHS 2 days ago, it’s important to note that the Free SHS Secretariat operates under a structured payment plan for utilities across its schools

Specifically, electricity bills from ECG are consolidated and processed quarterly for payment. It’s crucial to emphasize that these bills are settled collectively, not individually by schools. Therefore, any disconnection should logically affect all schools rather than being selective

This suggests a potential discrepancy between ECG headquarters, where payments are made, and its local operational units responsible for disconnections. Addressing this gap may help reconcile the problem going forward.”

Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service in an interview confirmed that electricity power has been restored to Accra Academy Senior High School after the Senior High School experienced lights out for 48 hours.

Dr Eric Nkansah said the Free Senior High School Secretariat, which is in charge of paying the electricity bills of all Senior High Schools in the country has been engaging the power distribution company and has settled all bills.

The Ghana Education Service (GES) Director-General in the interview monitored by Thisterm.com indicated that all payments were current and no Second-cycle school ought to have been disconnected based on their records.

“I have resolved this with the Managing Director of the Electricity Company (ECG) and the school has been restored, so we do not expect to see what we saw yesterday.

I can assure you that based on the arrangement that we have and the ongoing discussions, we will certainly not be seeing those going forward,” Dr Eric Nkansah told JoyNews.

According to the Director General, there is a pending meeting between his outfit, the Electricity Company of Ghana, and the Free SHS Secretariat to go over how payments will be made on time to avoid future disconnections.