While the Government made a lot of noise about the electrification of Bathurst Village in the Western Area Rural, the Ghanaian based contractor whose transformer was used by the government to electrify the then deprived community is yet to receive his balance payment of over half a million United States Dollars.
The electrification of Bathurst village falls within the ECOWAS funded Emergency Electric Power Supply Programme being implemented by Energy Ventures (Ghana limited).
The Company was awarded the contract in 2014 to supply and install transmission and distribution materials within deprived communities across Freetown including Bathurst Village. It started operations on 17th May, 2015 and the said project was supposed to have lasted for eight months
Managing Director of the company, Krishnan Nagarajan, had expressed his deep frustration over the delay on the part of the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA) to pay his company over half a million United States Dollars for the materials supplied and progress of works on the ECOWAS funded Emergency Electric Power Supply Programme.
Also speaking to Premier News last week, Nagarajan said the Government of Sierra Leone is cheating him because it using his equipment to score political goals but refusing to pay him for his work and materials used.
“When the government wanted to use my transformer, the Minister of Energy, Kanja Sesay, called me and pleaded with me to release it, but they seemed not to care about my money. This is mere wickedness because I have to pay workers,” he said.
According to Nagarajan what is more frustrating and bizarre to him is that, ECOWAS had from the inception of the project, released the complete grant amount to the Government of Sierra Leone which was public knowledge too, but the said money was allegedly diverted into other use by EDSA.
The said money, according to our investigation, was diverted into other use by EDSA-to purchase some lubricant. The diversion and misappropriation of public funds is by law a criminal offense under the Anti-Corruption Act of Sierra Leone.
The project had been halted for two years now and the contracting company is now constrained to pay workers, pay up the rent for the house they have hired for their staff, with most of their materials being stolen.
The Managing Director of Energy Ventures, the contracting company had threatened to sue EDSA to the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice after several efforts to get the attention of the Government of Sierra Leone to pay his balance payment proved futile.
The project, which was supposed to have lasted for eight months, have been delayed for over five years due to the negligence on the side of EDSA to release the needed funds for the Company to complete work.
Director General of EDSA, Dr.Joe-Lahai Sormana, had admitted that ECOWAS had released the funds for the project, but noted that it was not to his knowledge as to whether the money was diverted to other use or not, because he was not in office by then.
He said the Ministry of Finance had strongly promised to provide the funds to the Company, and that they are pushing hard to see that that happens. But the contractor told this medium that he took the said promise with a pinch of salt because it has long been overdue.
“I don’t want to believe that promise because they have been telling me this since November 2019 but to no avail. How do you think I can continue surviving on a promise that is not been fulfilled? I am tired of everything because the government is paying deaf ears to my plight,” he said.
By Alusine Sesay
30/11/2020. ISSUE NO: 7960