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GIS promotes four immigration officers for bravery in Bawku rescue mission
The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has promoted four officers for bravery and selflessness during a rescue mission to save three other colleagues who were attacked by unknown assailants in Bawku on 3rd April this year.
The three officers whose car came under fire from unknown gunmen on their way to buy food were thirty-year-old Assistant Inspector Eric Ayidiya, stationed at the Polimakom border post, and Forty-two-year-old Inspector Lawrence Afari, stationed at Kulungugu post, both of whom got injured and received treatment at the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital.
A third officer, forty-two-year-old Inspector Philip Motey, died from injuries sustained during the attack. He was laid to rest last Saturday.
The officers who rescued their colleagues: Chief Superintendent (C/Supt.) Michael Brewu Ampofoh was promoted to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Immigration.
Assistant Inspector Harris Quartey was promoted to the rank of Inspector; Immigration Control Officer (ICO) Wisdom Elorm Addo was promoted to the rank of Assistant Inspector, whilst Assistant Immigration Control Officer Grade II Emmanuel Forson was promoted to the rank of Assistant Immigration Control Officer Grade I.
All four officers also received citations, certificates and plaques, recognising their work.
The Controller-General of Immigration, Kwame Asuah Takyi, in an address, said on the evening of April 3, 2023 at about 19:51 hours, Chief Superintendent Michal Brewu Ampofoh, received a distress call from one Assistant Inspector Eric Afari who informed the Bawku Command of the attack by the unknown gunmen who fired several shots at their vehicle, killing Inspector Phillip Motey and injuring two others.
Mr Takyi commended Chief Superintendent Ampofo and the three others for their swift response despite the perilous situation.
“Quickly, Chief Supt. Ampofoh and team of other three officers rushed to the scene while keeping touch with Assistant Inspector Laurence Afari through his phone, receiving directions and reassuring them that help was coming until the team got there… while it shocked me as well as many others how the immigration response team got there faster in spite of the danger on their way,” he said.
He encouraged other officers to follow the example of the four by not turning their backs on fellow colleagues when their assistance was needed especially, in volatile areas of duty such as Bawku.
“All security personnel should hold and teach that we must not turn our backs on our colleagues in any way or form when our help is most needed. I say this because we all know about the situation in the Bawku area and the danger that the conflict poses to security officials and residents as a whole,” he said.
On her part, Mrs. Adelaide Anno-Kumi, the Chief Director at the Ministry of Interior, in an address, on behalf of the Minister, Ambrose Dery, commended the immigration service for recognising the heroic move by the four officers as stipulated in regulation 171D (2016) L.I. 2245 of the Ghana Immigration Service.
Madam Anno-Kumi hinted that Government via the Ministry of Interior recognised threats faced by immigration service officers who worked around the clock to ensure that the country’s borders were safe and protected against all forms of cross border crimes.
She added that government would continue to retool the service to execute its mandate as expected.
The newly promoted Michael Brewu Ampofoh at a media interview said though he was pleased with the recognition for his hard work, he saw this award and promotion as an extra duty which required more efforts and commitment.
“… day in day out when we are promoted from one rank to the other it is an additional responsibility which is a paradigm shift in your behaviour, your operations, your attitudes towards work, how you respond to such calls,” he said.
Credit: GNA
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
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BY MALIK SULLEMANA
