Ezra Power Plant at Kondokoro, Juba I Eye Radio

Two employees of Juba Electricity Distribution Company have been arrested by police for stealing electricity pole at University of Juba, the company’s public relation manager has said.

On Monday, the vice chancellor of University of Juba has accused some employees of Juba Electricity Distribution Company of stealing an electrical pole.

According to John Akech, the incident happened on Friday last week.

In response, the JEDCO PR manager – Joseph Thomas told Eye Radio on Monday two of its employees have been arrested by police over the matter.

“We receive this information from the University of Juba. Right now we are in collaboration with the University of Juba and the case is now a police case,” Thomas said.

“Those who did this are behind bars. Our legal team with the police plus the University of Juba are collaborating to find the root cause of how this happened. So case is still under investigation.”

Professor John Akec says the thievery led to a three-day power blackout at the institution.

“Why would a JEDCO’s worker collude to steal a pole their own company has installed at the University of Juba? Until we fix the management of our economy, we should expect problems of this nature to persist,” Prof John Akec wrote on a Facebook.

However, Prof Akec applauds JEDCO for reliability, saying it’s the first time in 44 years history of the university to have reliable electricity supply.

He notes that since 2020, the University of Juba has been enjoying 24-hour electricity supply.