By Politico staff writer
Thieving of electricity power lines, siphoning of power supply by businesses and homes, and the latest spate of vandalisation of substations and transformers have become very alarming these days. The destruction of transformers in particular has plunged communities into darkness, an act that has caused public outrage.
The Energy Minister Alhaji Kanja Sesay aware of the huge financial losses and the embarrassment such acts have caused his office has decided to solicit judicial support to tackle the growing problem in the energy sector.
The Minister has engaged the Attorney General and Minister of Justice Anthony Brewah and the Chief Justice Desmond Babatunde Edwards on the possibility of establishing a court for electricity offenders.
The Energy Minister who was accompanied by his deputy and senior officials spoke about the efforts by government to increase the level of power generation for public consumption. Kanja Sesay said such progressive strides remain hampered by sustained criminality by ill motivated persons. He said cases of electricity theft charged to court do not only get snail pace trial but also appalling fines that fall short of the magnitude of the damage incurred by the power generation and distribution agencies. The minister believed the setting up of such a court will help overcome those challenges.
The Attorney General and the Chief Justice expressed their intention to look into the concerns raised by the Minister. They said they will have to look at the Electricity Act of 2011 and the likelihood of such a court.
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