Police recruitment: Long queues at GCB as system goes down (updated)
Prospective police recruits Wednesday morning besieged various branches of the GCB Bank with the hope of paying for their electronic application vouchers which had gone on sale, but they had to endure long hours of waiting since the system for selling the forms had gone down.
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The Police Service this year decided to resort to an electronic means in receiving applications as part of efforts at reducing the involvement of intermediaries.
Previous police recruitments have been marred by scams, with a recent one leading to the interdiction of the Director General of Human Resource, COP Patrick Timbillah in 2015.
With this year’s recruitment, applicants are to purchase vouchers at the GCB Bank across Ghana at the cost of GhȻ100 and then fill out their details online at the police website since the mode of application is done only online. Selling of application vouchers will cease on May 31, 2016.
The GCB has a software, Transflow, which it uses to sell application forms for various tertiary institutions.
It was with that same software which the GCB had planned to sell the police recruitment vouchers which was to go on sale Wednesday morning.
Information gathered by Graphic Online indicated that all was set for the sale to go ahead smoothly but the system went down Wednesday morning
A visit to some branches of the GCB by Graphic Online showed long queues of prospective recruits who had gathered wanting to purchase their vouchers.
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Bank staff confirmed that the system had gone down. At some of the branches just three prospective applicants had been served as of midday since the bank opened for business in the morning.
At the Accra North branch near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, the prospective recruits had formed a queue at the premises and had been told they would be moved in batches of 20 to the banking hall to be served.
The story was no different at the Republic House branch in Accra, Kasoa Market and Kasoa Main branches in the Central region which were also visited by the Graphic Online team.
Some of the prospective recruits said they suspected it was an attempt to sabotage the recruitment exercise, same as the previous ones which they had to endure the schemes of middlemen who duped them of their monies.
GCB assures smooth operations
Meanwhile GCB Bank has advised all prospective recruits into the Police Service who wish to purchase recruitment forms at the bank to note that the Bank was working with its technology partners to ensure a smooth exercise over the stipulated three week period.
According to the bank it experienced a large number of prospective recruits at its branches which has affected the smooth flow of operations.
“The Bank assures them that it has the needed capacity and will continue to provide excellent service throughout the three week period which ends on May 31, 2016. The Bank is committed to ensuring a seamless exercise and would need the understanding and collaboration of all applicants,” a statement issued by the bank said.
Follow @enochfrimpong Writer's email: enoch.frimpong@graphic.com.gh
Watch a video of one of the prospective applicants here {youtube}v=GbG3ECPvRms{/youtube}