For rejecting a bribe of GH¢25,000.00 from a fertilizer smuggler, in the process of arrest, six personnel of the Hamile Sector Command of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) in the Upper West Region, have been honoured by the service.
The personnel the sector commander, Chief Superintendent Felix Agyeman-Bosompem, and Assistant Superintendent Razak Mohammed, were presented with plaques, certificates and an undisclosed amount of money.
The others were Inspector Prince Osei Bonsu, Assistant Inspector Benjamin Duah, Immigration Control Officer (ICO) Godfred Amponsah and Assistant Immigration Control Officer 1 (AICO I) Maurice Logochura.
They were recognised for their show of professionalism and patriotism at a staff durbar at the GIS headquarters in Accra, yesterday.
On August 1, 2019, the action of the officers led to the interception of 1,950 bags of NPK fertiliser, meant for the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), at Fielmon, an unapproved route, at the Ghana –Burkina Faso border in the region.
The programme, introduced in 2017, by the government, has been fraught with reports of smuggling of the fertiliser to neighbouring countries with 99,400 bags, valued at GH¢7.4 million impounded so far, this year.
Addressing the staff, Comptroller-General of Immigration (CGI), Mr Kwame Asuah Takyi, lauded the officers for acting swiftly to the call of the informant and for refusing to be enticed, describing their action as a mark of integrity in the face of man’s endless needs and scarce resources.
“It speaks well of you to have rejected such huge sum of money, GH¢25,000.00, despite your own economic challenges. You have placed the interest of the nation first, and this shows a high sense of patriotism and I encourage all officers to emulate this good deed,” Mr Takyi said.
He said the certificates and plaques were given to them for posterity sake, adding, “It is not just a paper but something your children will look on and be proud of you”.
Mr Takyi reassured the officers that the service would soon take delivery of bear arms to enable them confront border crimes.
The Deputy Comptroller General (DCG) in-charge of Legal, Research and Monitoring, Madam Baaba Asare, urged GIS personnel to keep up the good work, and that, the honour done them should inspire them to do more.
“This is a good example for others in similar position to emulate,” she added.
Present at the ceremony were the DCG in-charge of Command Post and Operations, Mr Laud Kwesi Affrifah, CGI, Deputy Comptroller-Generals, the Head of Operations, Deputy Commissioner of Immigration (DCOI) Isaac Luortey and the Head of Administration, DCOI Maud Anima Quainoo.
