GIS promotes 6 junior officers for rejecting bribes

Six junior officers of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) have been promoted for their dedication to duty, particularly in the fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Five of the promoted officers, who are serving under the Northern Regional Immigration Command (NRIC), on May 3, this year, rejected a GH¢1,900 bribe offered them by 19 Burkinabes to be allowed entry into the country.

The sixth officer has been promoted for putting his life on the line while pursuing smugglers at the Hamile Border Post where he had been deployed for ‘Operation Conquered Fist’, sustaining gunshot wounds as a result, and was airlifted by the Ghana Air Force to the 37 Military Hospital in Accra for medical attention.

The promotion, which took effect from May 8, this year, is in accordance with Regulation 17(1) (d) of the Immigration Service Regulations of 2016, L.I. 2245.

The six officers are to be decorated with the new ranks at their commands.

Bribery rejection

The five officers who turned down the bribe are Assistant Inspector Lukman Tea Salifu, Immigration Control Officer (ICO) Christian Kobla Kekeli Zilevu, ICO Robert Ahiatrogah and Assistant Immigration Control Officers Grade II (AICO II) Eric Kobby Kpogo and Isaac Armah.

The officers turned down a bribe offer of GH¢100 from each of the passengers and arrested the Burkinabes.

ICO Marfo

The GIS said ICO Marfo of the Kasoa District Command was, on March 22, 2020, shot by some unidentified men while on duty at the Hamile Border Post as part of the personnel deployed to various border posts for the ‘Operation Conquered Fist’.

ICO Marfo, the service said, while on night duty with the patrol team, spotted some people trying to leave the country through the Hamile Border and stopped them for questioning.

Not satisfied with the responses from the men, the patrol team tried to arrest them for trying to smuggle fuel out of the country, but another group of armed suspected smugglers arrived on the scene and began firing shots, one of which wounded ICO Marfo.

He was rushed to the Emergency Unit of the St Theresa’s Hospital in Nandom for initial treatment and later airlifted by the Ghana Air Force to the 37 Military Hospital in Accra for further medical attention.

ICO Marfo was currently in a stable condition, the GIS said.