Management of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has for some time observed the negative, false and misleading misinformation relating to some administrative issues in the Service and also attacks on the personality of the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Mr Kwame Asuah Takyi.
Management of the Ghana Immigration Service wishes to assure members of the general public that the negative reportage from a segment of the media against the person of the Comptroller-General of Immigration and about transfers and promotion within the Immigration Service are baseless, false and without substance.
There is no tension within the Service and all officers are happily at work.
This negative reportage is the handiwork of a few senior officers to tarnish the hard won reputation of the Comptroller-General who through dint of hard work with Government support has turned around the fortunes of the Service.
PROMOTIONS
Promotions and transfers as are being discussed in the media are purely administrative and internal issues that are dealt with through the chain of command.
However to clear the misinformation being churned out by TV3 through its presenter on the JOHNNIE’S BITES show we will like to explain the promotion of Chief Superintendent Edwin Adjetey Duku which has taken center stage in the ongoing discourse.
Chief Supt. Edwin Adjetey Duku was recalled from interdiction along with three others after staying home for five years without trial. Their recall was approved by the Governing Council of the GIS and were to be reinstated to ranks just as their colleagues.
Unfortunately and quite strangely, his name was omitted from the list of officers to be reinstated by the then Head of the Human Resource Department, Assistant Commissioner of Immigration (ACI) Kojo Oppong Yeboah.
He petitioned the Comptroller-General on the unfair treatment meted out against him because all recalled officers had all been elevated to ranks like their intake mates except him. And he had stayed on his rank for eleven (11) years.
His petition was forwarded to the Appointments and Promotions Committee(APAC) which approved of his petition on the basis of fairness and equity.
His promotion to Chief Superintendent was to restore him to the level of his mates as was done for the others. Chief Supt. Edwin Adjetey Doku was therefore never promoted twice as is being speculated.
The promotion letter being shown on TV3 as a double promotion in one day is never true and it was a wrong letter that was issued but immediately withdrawn when the anomaly was detected and a new one issued.
Management wishes to state emphatically that Chief Supt Edwin Adjetey Doku’s wife is not a relation of the Comptroller-General. And even if she is a relation, the Comptroller-General is personally not aware.
It is very unfortunate that a media house such as TV3 will allow its station to propagate such lies and misinformation to the general public without following the basic ethics of the journalism profession by cross checking with the Ghana Immigration Service to confirm or otherwise the information they have before going public
MEDICAL ALLOWANCE
The payment of medical allowance was suspended by Management due to the increasing number of officers since this was paid from our own internally generated funds.
However, when officers submit medical refunds the Service duly pay these refunds which is far in excess of the GHC 300.00 medical allowance.
Again the Service in cases of serious medical conditions take up the financial cost of sending officers for overseas medical treatment.
Special arrangements have been made with some Government Regional Hospitals to treat Immigration Officers within the Regional Commands and submit the bills to the National Headquarters for payment. Officers who attend private hospitals and submit their receipts for refund are also taken care of.
It is therefore not true that the Comptroller-General has directed that Officers in the Regions who fall sick should travel to Accra to seek medical attention at the GIS Clinic.
GIS CLINIC
Hitherto the Ghana Immigration Service was depending on the Police and 37 Military Hospitals to extend medical care to its Officers and also to conduct medical screening for recruits of the Ghana Immigration Service.
Management again in a bid to grow the Service entered into an Agreement with the St Johns Medical Center to set up the GIS Clinic with the approval of the Governing Council of the Service.
The GIS Clinic offers free medical care to serving and retired officers. It also conduct medical screening for foreign nationals who apply for residence and work permits.
The services that the GIS Clinic offers to the Ghana Immigration Service has saved the Service lots of monies that otherwise would have gone to other health facilities.
Also, the screening of foreign nationals by our Clinic has helped to weed out fake medical certificates that some foreign nationals with the connivance of some Officers were submitting to apply for residence permit. This helps also to protect public health safety.
This also explains why some officers were fighting against the establishment of the GIS Clinic because it was going to deny them of their ill-gotten wealth through the issuance of fake medical certificates to foreign nationals.
Currently, the GIS has recruited Nurses, Medical Assistants and Laboratory Technicians who are Immigration Officers to work at the GIS Clinic here at the National Headquarters and also our Clinics at AssinFoso and Tepa Training Schools.
The recruitment of these health professionals was met with opposition by some officers who were not in favor with the establishment of the GIS Clinic due to the loss of their ill-gotten wealth and were doing all that they could to make the Clinic fail.
The GIS Covid Testing Facility which is managed by the GIS Clinic tested over 5000 Immigration Officers free of charge during the peak of the pandemic and still test Officers for free.
The projection is that very soon we will recruit our own medical doctors and turn the Clinic into a full-fledged hospital to be replicated in our Regional Commands.
Accessibility to health care is a sure way to maintain healthy Officers. We even have the intention of starting a mobile clinic in the near future to provide medical care for our officers at the borders.
The Police and Military hospitals all started from such humble beginnings and it takes a visionary leader to walk such a road, thinking about the generation ahead by providing the necessary foundation for expansion and growth. Now we have a Medical Unit, which was not so in the past.
REGIONAL COMMANDERS BEING ASKED TO STOP ISSUING RESIDENCE PERMITS
Until recently Regional Commanders were given the mandate to issue residence permits.
This mandate was taken away when it came to the attention of the Directorates that some Regional Commanders were engaged in malpractice in the issuance of permits which was affecting revenue generation and consequently our internally generated funds (IGF) which was also seriously affecting the running of the Service.
A decision was taken by the Directorates to put on hold the issuance of fresh residence permits by the Regional Commands for investigations to be carried out. Coincidentally, the Service started recording higher revenue figures within the period to the extent of exceeding its revenue target for last year (2021).
Even though the decision to put on hold the issuance of fresh residence permits by Regional Commanders still holds, they still carry out the following;
- Renewal of Residence Permits
- Extension of Visitors Permit
iii. Processing of Re-Entry and Entry Visas
- Processing of Penalties including illegal employment
- Enforcement Duties
In addition to this, fresh residence permits are processed at the Regions whereby forms submitted are paid for, receipts issued at the Region and subsequently forwarded to the National Headquarters for the residence permit to be issued. (This is just in the case of fresh residence permits).
TRANSFERS
Transfers in the Ghana Immigration Service is based on several factors. It is not done to punish or to demote any officer.
During the recent transfers, some Assistant Commissioners who hitherto were acting Regional Commanders were reassigned to head Sector Commands that is where their ranks demand they should be placed.
Regulation 9 of Immigration Service Regulations,2016 (L.I 2245) states “The Service shall have Assistant Commissioners who shall be second in command at the respective Regions, major entry point or any other command position as may be determined by the Comptroller-General”
It is therefore a total falsehood for anyone to say that an Assistant Commissioner reassigned from a Regional Command to head a Sector Command has been demoted.
EXTENSION OF SERVICE
The extension of service of the Comptroller-General is the sole prerogative of His Excellency the President and supported by the 1992 Constitution and the Immigration Service Regulations, 2016 (L. I. 2245) Regulation 103 (3).
Perhaps, and as is the belief of majority of Officers, the extension of service is due to the phenomenal and unprecedented development of the GIS within the last five years.
COMPTROLLER-GENERAL’S RELATIONSHIP WITH DCOI PETER NANTUO
Again and rather unfortunately, the presenter of the JOHNNIE’S BITES show got it all wrong when he alleged that there was bad blood between the Comptroller-General of Immigration and the late Deputy Commissioner of Immigration (DCOI) Peter Nantuo who was the Volta Regional Commander.
This allegation is a baseless one and if the presenter or producer of the show had cross-checked with the GIS it would have saved us the embarrassing situation we find ourselves now talking about the dead.
When DCOI Peter Nantuo was first taken ill, and admitted at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the CGI led some Management Members to go and visit him at the hospital.
Then again when he was readmitted at the 37 Military Hospital, the CGI was out of the country on an official trip. Immediately he arrived at the airport he went straight to visit him at the Anoff Ward where the wife of DCOI Nantuo was present, and she can attest to that.
The Comptroller-General personally made sure, that all medical bills of DCOI Peter Nantuo were paid for by the Service and personally made sure that he was given the best medical care.
The Comptroller-General was in constant touch with DCOI Peter Nantuo and even at Management meetings will ask for briefings on the health status of the demised Commander. Why will the CGI be doing all this if he indeed was at loggerheads with DCOI Peter Nantuo?
During the burial and funeral of DCOI Peter Nantuo, the Comptroller-General had a scheduled official trip to the United Kingdom with some Ministers of State on the 24th of July, 2022 so he delegated a high powered delegation led by the Deputy Comptroller-General of Immigration in charge of Finance and Administration (DCG/F&A), Mr. Isaac Owusu Mensah to represent him.
The family of DCOI Peter Nantuo reciprocated this kind gesture and support by coming to thank the CGI and Management.
INSPECTOR OSWALD ESSUMAN MENSAH (BODYGUARD TO CGI)
The abovementioned Officer until recently was the bodyguard of the CGI. He submitted a three weeks medical excuse duty which was approved by the CGI.It was during the period of his medical excuse duty that he traveled out of the country without going through the laid down procedures.
Immediately it came to the attention of the CGI, he directed the HR and Financial Controller to take action to stop the salary of the said officer and also placed him on interdiction while investigation was conducted as to how he left the country without going through due process.
The presenter’s attack on the CGI that he was at loggerheads with his bodyguard is false. In a regimented institution such as ours if there was any such thing the CGI could have had him replaced or if he had misconducted himself as a bodyguard the CGI could have put him on a Service inquiry or trial.
The Comptroller-General’s style of leadership is a human-centered one and his doors are always opened for Officers who wish to have an interaction with him. He does this every Friday from 3pm till he sees the last person at times beyond 10pm.
Since he took over the reins of the headship of the GIS he has operated a human-centered policy that has led to a huge improvement in the working conditions of Officers.
TRAINING OF THE CGI IN PARAMILITARY TRAINING
There are various training regimes in the Service. Indeed, when the GIS became a para-military institution, the existing officers were not initially taken through any para-military training.
The first batch of recruits and some young serving officers then, were sent for training at the 5BN Barracks at Burma Camp in the year 1990. Since then, newly recruited Officers and Officers being promoted have received para-military training.
The CGI falls into the second category. His services as a Lawyer when he was enlisted was urgently needed since it was the time we were trying to reorganize our Legal Directorate as a young autonomous para-military institution just weaned off as a Department under the Interior Ministry.
Records at our Training Department at the Headquarters and also at the Immigration Service Academy, Assin Faso will attest to this. Also, there are course mates of the CGI who can attest to his being at the Immigration Service Academy, some of who include, DCOI Samuel Ayer, ADI Amoako Yirenkyi (RTD) and COI Charity Ankrah (RTD).
Such serious non-performance of cross-checking by the Television station and its presenter only exposes an agenda to disparage the character of the Comptroller-General.
Meanwhile, Management wishes to assure the public that the Comptroller-General and Members of the National Immigration Management Committee are firmly in charge of the situation and once again calls on the public to ignore the misleading information in the media space about the Service.
REFERENCE TO THE CGI AS DEALING IN PERMIT MALPRACTICE
The CGI was interdicted unlawfully without any investigations and hearing on a false accusation of signing 13 Chinese passports in 2013 and filed a writ against the
Service in 2014. On 2nd February, 2017, a court of competent jurisdiction gave judgment in his favor and ordered his reinstatement into the Service without loss of seniority and payment of all benefits due him during the period of unlawful interdiction.
It is important to note that at the hearing, the GIS could not adduce any evidence of wrongdoing against Mr Takyi, the then Acting Head of the Legal Department who was the most senior at the time apart from the Director.
The action of the presenter constitute an act of contempt in the face of a judgment by a Court of competent jurisdiction. If the presenter had adhered to the trite principle of hearing the other party also, he would have realized that he has been misinformed.
Meanwhile, Management wishes to assure the public that the Comptroller-General and Members of the National Immigration Management Committee are firmly in charge of the situation and once again calls on the public to ignore the misleading information in the media space about the Service.
SGD.
C/SUPT. MICHAEL AMOAKO-ATTA
HEAD OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Tel: 0555027024
Email: info@immigration.gov.gh
