Formalise existence before recognition - Interior Ministry tells Institute of Auctioneers

The Ministry of the Interior says it will not recognise the role of the Ghana Institute of Auctioneers (GhIA) until its members go through the right procedures to formalise its existence.

The Deputy Minister of the Interior, Mr Henry Quartey, who stated this, explained that the name recognised in the Auction Sales Act 1989 (PNDCL 230) to be part of the Auctioneers Registration Board was the Ghana Auctioneers Association and nothing else.

Change of name illegal

He said the GhIA, which used to exist as Ghana Auctioneers Association metamorphosed and took on the new name without going through due process to regularise its existence.

He said until the right thing was done, “the ministry shall not recognise the GhIA”, describing the purported change of name of the association to the GhIA as illegal and cautioned the public to disregard the said group and its leader, Mr Calvis Okine.

When contacted to react to a press conference organised yesterday by Mr Okine’s group, Mr Quartey was initially hesitant in commenting on the issue, but later explained that there were laid down procedures Mr Okine and his followers needed to accede to.

He said the mere fact that he had gone to the Registrar General’s Department to register the GhIA did not end there because the association was the name recognised in the law.

“What he failed and has failed and is still failing to do is to go through the mother ministry and in this case, the Ministry of the Interior so that we can help prepare an amendment bill to be taken to parliament, get stakeholders involved and then do an amendment, so that the name itself, the Ghana Auctioneers Association, can be changed in Parliament, the name adopted, and published for the consumption of all.

“Until then, I’m afraid that the Ministry of the Interior shall not recognise the Ghana Institute of Auctioneers,” he explained.

No locus

Referring to a press conference organised by Mr Okine, Mr Quartey advised the public to disregard the activities of Mr Okine and the GhIA, saying that Mr Okine could not hold himself as a President of the Ghana Association of Auctioneers and, therefore, had no locus to organise a press conference.

He contended that Mr Okine did not get the consent of all members of the association in changing the name and, therefore, had no moral courage to engage the ministry.

Legal interpretation

Mr Quartey further challenged the GhIA to go to court to seek legal interpretation of the role of the Deputy Minister of the Interior in chairing the Auctioneers Registration Board.

“The Deputy Minister of the Interior has always been the Chairman of the Board. This is not the first time and if they now think that it is not right, they can go to court to seek legal interpretation,” he explained.

He further dismissed any acts of interference, insisting that the ministry was only carrying out its mandate.

Mr Quartey explained that the ministry had the sole right to renew, issue licences and also publish the list of auctioneers in good standing.
He insisted that the ministry “shall, within the confines of the law,” continue to exercise its supervisory role.

Unlawful

But at a press conference yesterday, Mr Okine and the GhIA described as unlawful a recent publication by the Ministry of the Interior indicating a list of auctioneers in good standing.

According to the GhIA, the move by the ministry contravened provisions of the Auction Sales Act 1989 (PNDCL 230)) as the law enjoined the Auctioneers Registration Board to solely undertake the licensing of auctioneers and, by extension, reserve the right to publish names of auctioneers in good standing.

Mr Okine described the move by the ministry as a “pure act of interference” in the activities of the Auctioneers Registration Board.

He, therefore, urged the public to disregard any publication by the Ministry of the Interior regarding auctioneers in good standing as it did not have the legal right to do so.

Background

In the Monday, July 1 edition of the Daily Graphic, the Ministry of the Interior published a list of auctioneers in good standing as “approved by the Auctioneers Registration Board and the Ministry of the Interior.”

The publication was in reaction to an earlier one by the GhIA in the Thursday, June 20, 2019 edition of the Daily Graphic indicating a list of its members in good standing.

In its reaction, the ministry stated that the GhIA was not known by the Auctioneers Registration Board, which is under the Ministry of the Interior, hence the counter-publication.