Immigration Officers Threaten To Resist Rose Bio Atingah

The Para-military officers at the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), have threatened to resist any move by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to second Madam Rose Bio Atingah to the Service as the Director. According to the officers, Madam Bio Atingah, who is currently the Director-General in charge of Administration at the Ghana Police Service, is lobbying the appointing authorities to be appointed as the next D-G of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) to take over from Dr. Peter Wiredu who himself was a former police man. Some senior staff members, who spoke on condition of anonymity said, they will resist any attempt by the Government foist Madam Rose Bio Atingah or any other police or military officer on them will not be countenance. They claim that another police officer would not be accepted by officers, because they have had enough of this perennial disgrace as serving career immigration officers. The aggrieved, issued this threat in reaction to snippets of information that some government officials were lobbying for Madam Rose Bio Atingah to be made the next D-G of the service. They posited that the service was endowed with competent career officers, who can equally man the position of Director-General for the service. The situation, where Government sidelines all competent career officers in the service and hand over the top job of the GIS to non immigration officers must stop. �We have the men to man the position in the service; this primitive way of handling the affairs of the Service is killing initiatives,� fumed one officer. We cannot always be insulted in this manner,; the situation of bringing ex-police officers and ex-military officers has created the impression in the minds of the junior officers that their superiors are useless group of officers who are not capable of managing the top job of the service. A senior officer said, they have discovered over the years that many of the Directors of the Service who were brought from outside Create mess a few years after assuming office. This men and women come and forms a cabal within the service to enable them prosecute their parochial agenda. Hence the divide and rule tactics that has frequently hit the front of the service, thereby, breaking the chain of command. �My brother, can the Government appoint an ex-fire officer as the Chief of Defense Staff for the Ghana Arm Force (GAF) or appoint an ex-fire officer as the Inspector of Police (IGP) for the Ghana Police Service so, why immigration service,� a frustrated senior officer questioned. �Since the inception of the service some twenty-three years ago, we have been playing second fiddle to the police service to the extent that Consular position in Ghana�s missions abroad for immigration officers are taken over by the police and other security institutions. �Why should an officer serve as an immigration officer in our London mission,� They admonished the Minister of Interior to expedite action on the concerns raised saying, �The Minister of Interior must act with dispatch in respect of these issues. We have raised this issue in order for the appropriate action to be taken to save the Ghana Immigration Service which has been on its knees as a result of greed, corruption and deliberate incompetence. The officers also want to state without equivocation that, they are determined to pursue this matter to any length to ensure that the right things are done to safe guard the image of the service. They said that going forward; Government must endeavor to appoint one of their own to serve as motivation for officers to inspire to higher career position in the service. They claim that bas it stands now �we are doomed to be headed by people who only come have their own ways in the service.� The time has come for the service to be accorded the needed respect it deserves, if they have to meet their mandate,they asserted.