Lawsuit hangs over LEC

Several volunteers of the Liberia Electricity Corporation or LEC in Nimba County have threatened management with lawsuit if it failed to pay or employ them following long services to the entity.

The aggrieved volunteers, who spoke to our correspondent in the county, narrated they started working with the LEC family since the cross border electricity project reached Nimba in 2011. The project is a regional initiative involving countries of the Mano River union Basin with power distribution being provided by neighboring Ivory Coast.

According to them, during the period under review they lost three of their friends to the Ebola Virus Disease. The volunteers lamented that they transport themselves on a daily to various villages, towns and cities in Nimba to make sure power is available to citizens.

Speaking to this paper over the weekend in Ganta, the spokesperson for the aggrieved volunteers Franklin Sahn said their demand for salaries and employment is because of alleged bad treatment they continue to receive from management.

“Some of us have huge families that we need to care for and send to school. How can a man work for six years without pay”, he asked. Our correspondent said some staff from the LEC head office in Monrovia paid a visit to Nimba recently and told citizens the company does not have employees in the county to collect electricity bills from customers.

Management has reportedly failed to collect bills from customers for over three years, thereby causing the Ivorian government to threaten to cut off the power due to non-payment of bills.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the LEC Mr. Ian Yhap, who met with the aggrieved volunteers over the weekend in Ganta, said the meeting was intended to appeal to them to abandon taking legal step against the company.

Mr. Yhap commended them for the level of hard work they have done and continue to do for the entity, promising to seek means to address their plight. He also pledged to work along with the volunteers to create jobs for them.

By Franklin Doloquee, Nimba-Editing by Jonathan Browne