The Chairman of the Weh Town- Gobachop Community in Red Light, Paynesville, Mr. Cyrus M. Sayeh has alarmed rising power theft in his community.
He said the criminal activities of power theft are defrauding the Liberian Electricity Company (LEC) of needed revenue to improve electricity stability in the country.
The Weh Town-Gobachop Community is in Electoral District #5 in Montserrado County.
Mr. Sayeh said it is disheartening to see the effort of the Government through the LEC being undermined by individuals he described as witchcraft engaging in illegal connections or stealing of current.
He said at night in the Weh Town- Gobachop Community, two men purported to be employees of LEC only identified as P-40 and ED illegally cut electrical wires from the main Community Transformers and connect other people in nearby communities.
He named the Soul Clinic Community as one of the nearby communities that are heavily benefiting from the illegal connect activities of P-40 and ED.
He said both men usually bypassed the LEC meters and make direct connections to homes of their clients. He also claimed that there are other homes enjoying illegal connections without meters.
"We no longer sleep during night hours. These so-called LEC men, only work at night, and cut people's wires, while they connect other residents, who are far from the community, just to collect little income," he said.
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Mr. Sayeh appreciated the intervention of the Zone Five detachment of the Liberia National Police, "but said despite the effort of the Police, the men are still carrying on their scrappy ingenuity.
According to him, he wants the government to immediately step in to arrest those individuals and prosecute them while putting in stringent measures to curtail the stealing of electricity in the Country.
In November 2022, Stakeholders, and the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) launched the "Anti Power Theft Campaign" to combat power theft. The LEC has overly emphasized that power theft is a major driver of commercial losses at the company with an alarming sum of $USD 46 million monthly.
The electricity company said such practice poses a serious problem in having the entity provide adequate services to its numerous customers.
LEC said Power Theft within communities is also seriously hampering the sustainability of the corporation and its ability to expand current grid networks across the country.
LEC CEO, Mr. Monie Captan, at the time, encouraged community leaders to work along with the Anti-Power-Theft taskforce to combat illegal connections.
Meanwhile, with the alarming situation in the Weh Town, Gobachop Community, regarding the illegal stealing of electricity by some community dwellers involving purported LEC employees, it rests upon the head of the Corporation to step into the situation.
