The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye, has called for a revision of the country’s laws to severely punish persons who destroy state facilities that affect the economy.
He said such crimes, which he described as economic crimes, did not attract a harsh sentencing regime since the consideration had been on the items stolen or destroyed but not the effect of the acts on the economy.
Prof. Oquaye made the call following the presentation of a statement on the recent damage of power transmission pylons belonging to the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) by some unknown persons.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Tarkwa-Nsuaem, Mr George Mireku Duker, read the statement last Friday, with some members from both sides of the House contributing and urging the security agencies to investigate and arrest the culprits.
The people hacked down one of the high voltage transmission pylons belonging to GRIDCo within the Tema enclave on Monday, March 25, 2019.
The pylon fell on an adjacent tower in the process. According to GRIDCo, the damaged tower formed part of the transmission chain that transmitted power from Karpower, VRA and AKSA to the national grid.
The situation resulted in power interruptions to parts of Greater Accra, including Dansoman, Kasoa, Swan Lake and parts of the Western and Ashanti regions.
Prof. Oquaye said unless the laws were reviewed for perpetrators of economic crimes to be made to face the full rigors of the law, MP’s would continue to make statements upon statements on such issues without any concrete results.
He, therefore, tasked legislators to consider reviewing the laws to deal with the perpetrators of economic crimes more decisively
Source:Fiilafmonline/GRAPHIC
