GWCL slabs thief skips court date, police pursue surety

One Samuel Mensah, who is suspected to have stolen a slab covering valve chambers belonging to the Ghana Water Company Limited, refused to show up in court Tuesday when the case was called.

The slab, according to the GWCL, protects the valves that connect water to various communities.

This particular slab was stolen from the Ankaful community, and residents apprehended Samuel Mensah and handed him over to the Ghana Water Company. The company also handed him over to the police.

The police have however pledged to arrest the surety who stood in and applied for bail for Samuel Mensah until the suspect appears.

According to the Central and Western Regional Communications Manager for Ghana Water Company, Nana Yaw Barima Banie, “Ghana Water Company has been experiencing theft cases involving some of our installations for some time now. People steal our water meters, and they steal our metal slabs on some of our valve chambers”.

Nana Yaw Barima Banie disclosed that the valve chambers are installations “that enable us to control water within the pipe network”.

He stated that even though Samuel Mensah was arrested and bailed out after 48 hours, he was supposed to appear in court on Tuesday but failed to appear in court.

“The component of one valve chamber cost GHC 15,000 and over the last one year, we’ve had about fourteen of these metal slabs stolen”.

The Central and Western Regional Communications Manager called on all to protect the company’s properties and report any suspicious characters in connection with the company’s assets.