Citizens’ Complaint Unit probes illegal sale of fuel
The Citizens’ Complaints Unit (CCU) of the Office of the President has launched investigations into alleged illegal sale of fuel by transit tankers at the Paga Border Post.
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According to the unit, complaints it has received indicate that at least 20 tankers on transit to Niger from Tema engage in the illegal business daily.
The trucks are said to change their Nigerien registration numbers into Ghanaian numbers before engaging in the illegal trade.
Commenting on the investigations, which were contained in a summarised report of the CCU for the first three months of its operations, the Head of the unit, Dr Clement Apaak, told the Daily Graphic in Accra that his outfit had taken a serious view of the development and informed the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to help expose the perpetrators of the act and prevent any recurrence.
Laws
The laws on transit goods require that goods are not subject to import duties. However, if the consignment fails to exit the country within the prescribed period and no official extension is granted, duty becomes due. The importer may request the Commissioner of the Ghana Revenue Authority to allow consumption of goods in the local market and if this is authorised, then duty becomes payable.
Goods in transit shall be conveyed by road on routes approved by the commissioner. A person who does not follow the specified transit route commits an offence.
Cases handled
According to the report, the CCU successfully resolved 52 complaints that came before its complaints centre in the first three months of its operation.
In all, the unit received 106 complaints with 19 of them currently under investigation, seven referred to other agencies for investigation, and 18 pending due to insufficient evidence from complainants.
“Over the period under review, February 25 to May 26, 2016, a good number of complaints/reports were received from citizens across the nation. Most of the complaints that were received were poor services rendered by some public institutions, extortion of money from citizens by individuals and some public and private firms, poor working conditions and legal issues. It is important to note that the work of the unit has led to the successful refund of some money extorted from citizens,” it said.
The report added that some health and energy-related issues which posed persistent problems in some residential areas for over a year had also been resolved.
Investigations
According to the unit, investigations are also ongoing in cases where some staff of the Bibiani Government Hospital allegedly diverted medicines meant for the hospital to some private pharmacy shops.
“It was alleged that some nurses were charging exorbitant fees from patients without issuing receipts,” it said.
In other investigations, the unit is also looking at complaints against some organisations that failed to pay their staff’s SSNIT contributions.
There are also cases involving the charging of unapproved and exorbitant fees on imported goods at the ports.
Besides, the CCU is investigating complaints of cars imported into the country and cleared at the ports without the payment of duty.
Passport
The report mentioned that it received complaints that some personnel of the Ghana Immigration Service allegedly took money from them to help process their passport, which they failed to deliver.
Some of the money has been retrieved.
Challenges
The challenges the unit faces, as contained in the report, include insufficient evidence submitted by some complainants online, which sometimes makes it difficult to initiate investigation and to follow up.
Background
The Citizens’ Complaint Unit was set up by President John Dramani Mahama in fulfilment of his resolve to encourage active citizen participation in support of the fight against corruption and to enhance the right of citizens to demand better services from state institutions and agencies.
The unit, headed by Presidential Staffer, Dr Clement Apaak, oversees the Complaints Centre.
