Immigration honours five officers for dedication to service

The Comptroller-General of Immigration (CGI), Mr Kwame Asuah Takyi, last Monday honoured five distinguished officers of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) for their dedication to duty.

Four of the honoured officers, on July 8 this year, intercepted volumes of petroleum products that were being smuggled through an unapproved route at Akanu along Ghana’s border with Togo in the Volta Region.

The other officer was honoured for committedly ensuring that the environment in and around the national headquarters of the GIS in Accra was always clean.

The officers are the Akanu Sector Commander, Chief Superintendent Godson Attobrah; Officer-In-Charge of Grounds, Assistant Superintendent Augustus Okyere; Inspector Samuel Ampofo; Assistant Inspector Kofi Asante and Assistant Immigration Control Officer 1, Israel Gidisu.

Ceremony

At the ceremony, Mr Takyi extolled the officers for their bravery, patriotism and dedication to duty.

He said the commendation the leadership of the service got from the State should trickle down to the rank and file who were in the thick of affairs. 

“When the service receives glory, it usually goes to the leaders. Other officers should be glorified too,” he said, noting that, “They could have taken money and allowed the culprits involved in the smuggling to go.”

A statement issued by the service and signed by the Head of Public Affairs, Superintendent Michael Amoako-Atta, said the CGI and management recognised the efforts of the officers, hence the honour to show the service’s appreciation to them.

“Management and I recognise what you have done and we give you this token to show our appreciation,” the statement quoted Mr Takyi as saying.

The officers were presented with certificates, undisclosed amounts of money and a plaque each, the statement said.

The CGI, Deputy Comptroller-General and Head of Border Management Department, Commissioner Isaac Owusu Mensah, made the presentations.

Gratitude

The Deputy Comptroller-General in-Charge of Finance and Administration, Mrs Judith Dzokoto-Lomoh, expressed the service’s gratitude to the officers for not only being friendly but also vigilant at the border.

She commended them for their dedication to duty and show of professionalism and encouraged them to do more, saying: “More power to your elbow.”

Mrs Dzokoto-Lomoh explained that the men were being honoured to serve as an example for other officers to know that good deeds yielded results and ought to be emulated.

For his part, the Deputy Comptroller-General In-charge of Command Post and Operations, Mr Laud Kwesi Affrifah, called for the Border Patrol Unit of the service to be urgently resourced, explaining that a well-resourced Border Patrol Unit would go a long way to curb leakage of the nation’s resources.