On Thursday, May 19, 2022 members of the Board of Directors of Ghana Post paid a courtesy call on President Akufo-Addo at Jubilee House. The Managing Director, Bice Osei Kuffuor, in his remarks, made an appeal to the President to help them secure more government businesses.
In his justification, the MD articulated that Ghana Post, which according to him, was undergoing transformation since he took over, was capable of delivering quality service.
The report, filed by our Presidential Correspondent, indicated that Ghana Post, like its peers in other countries needed a core base to propel its growth, according to the MD. He also added that such a base had been achieved through getting businesses from government institutions.
This meeting took place on the back of the new MD’s rebranding of Ghana Post, a development which gained much affection from Ghanaians, most of whom sang the praises of the MD and wished him well.
The news of how the company delivered clients’ gifts to loved ones on Valentine’s Day, this year, was a great spectacle for the image of a company like Ghana Post, in this era of express courier services.
On the website of Ghana Post, the company says it provides the best courier service through its Express Mail Service (EMS). It states that the EMS “we (Ghana Post) provide is the quickest and most affordable courier service in the country.”
However, what has necessitated this editorial is our report in today’s edition of this paper with the headline: ‘Ghana Post rebranding façade’.
Ghana Post on Wednesday delivered a supposed ‘urgent’ letter to The Chronicle. The addressee, upon receiving it, quickly opened the envelope which had been labeled urgent. But to the utter surprise of the recipient, the letter was late in coming.
The sender, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), had written to The Chronicle to participate in a workshop for the review and endorsement of a draft communications strategy for the sound management of chemicals and waste in Ghana.
The letter was written on Tuesday, August 9, 2022 and the workshop was slated for Thursday, August 18, 2022 but the letter got to The Chronicle on Wednesday, August 24, 2022.
Interestingly, on the receipt Ghana Post attached to the letter, the date on it was Friday, August 12, 2022. This is a receipt the courier company will prepare before the item leaves to the receiver. It has the details of the sender and the receiver, and the amount charged.
On the face of the receipt, if the EPA completed the sending process from Accra on August 12, 2022 – the date on the Ghana Post receipt, and the letter arrived at our office in Accra on August 24, 2022 the only conclusion is that it took Ghana Post 12 days to deliver an urgent letter within the same city. This cannot be a result of the rebranding the company has been preaching about.
Meanwhile, our checks revealed an urgent item could be delivered within a day if both the sender and receiver are in the same city. But it may take a maximum of 72 hours if they are in different regions.
The Chronicle considers this service delivery by Ghana Post very embarrassing—a complete opposite of the appeal the company made at the meeting with the President.
It is quite reasonable to feel disappointed as a business entity, given that this urgent letter, which Ghana Post regrettably failed to deliver to us on time, could have made a business lose a huge contract, that could have earned the business revenue in this difficult economic times.
We are concerned as a paper, because we had used our platform to help advocate for business for a government agency, and some months later, the same company failed woefully to deliver on their services.
Further, we are worried over this development, considering the influx of private courier companies sprouting across the country, which want to partner with public institutions but may never be considered.
We are not the only victims, as Amandzeba Phiiphi Smyth, an entertainment critic, has also shared his ordeal and even concluded that a private competitor does better. He said it took Ghana Post one week and three days to deliver a laptop to his children in Kumasi.
For us at The Chronicle, the management of Ghana Post should not treat this issue lightly, but investigate it and unravel how an urgent item to be delivered within the same city could take 14 days.
