The Acting Director of Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), COP/ Dr. Peter Alex Wiredu, has asked Ghanaians not to view the gate keeper agency as a rosy one, since weapons used during operations and ceremonial occasions are all borrowed.
According to the Acting Director, although the GIS generated revenue of GH�21,888,474, 50 in 2012; GH�22,856,552.00 in 2013 and GH�20,622,573.00 in first quarter of 2014 to the state, it is faced with financial and logistics challenge.
COP/Dr. Wiredu made this observation whilst welcoming the newly appointed Interior Minister, Mr. Mark Owen Woyongo, with a series of parades in Accra yesterday.
Mr. Woyongo, after being welcomed by the agency, was told in the face by the Acting Director that �the weapons you see the immigration using are borrowed weapons.
�Whereas the smugglers are sometimes armed to the teeth, officers who are to deter them from their nefarious actives are not armed,� he said.
�Aside weapons challenge, immigration officers are also unable to fight smugglers and irregular migration due to lack of vehicles, including cycles at all sector commands, batons, jungle boots, tents and flashlights, rain coats and surveillance equipment.
�This state of affairs really demoralizes our men on the ground and reduces productivity,� he noted.
According to the Acting Director, Ghana�s frontline security agency cannot boast of a national, regional and district headquarters exclusively to itself.
COP/Dr. Wiredu further revealed that 6.3% of GIS entire staffs are accommodated, while 93.7% are living in self-rented apartment.
Additionally, the gate-keeping institution responsible to the country�s territorial boundaries lack requisite protective gears; such as nose masks, gloves, sanitizer and boots for its personnel, at the 56 approved entry/exit points in the country, to protect them from diseases like Ebola.
The GIS, though with several challenges, has chalked some successes, like supporting state and financial institutions to detect 52 counterfeit stamps, 6 counterfeit visas, 2 impersonation, 14 forged visas, 31 counterfeit bank statements and 48 birth certificates, 6 doubtful nationality, 2 chemical erasure and 27 substituted passports.
Mr. Woyongo, after listening to GIS�s long listed problems, appealed to the officers to eschew politics, factionalism, ethnicity and in-house fighting that are being displayed in the state owned entity.
He urged the green uniformed officers to put their house in order and support whoever is promoted among them to steer the affairs of GIS, stressing: �let us be discipline and respect authority. Don�t think if you use �juju� we will appoint you as the director. Wait till it is your turn because it is God who appoints leaders.�
Mr. Woyongo further urged the GIS officers to adopt new attitude towards work by zooming in zero tolerant of corruption and exhibit high professional standards.
<<Print>>