The Upper East Regional Fire Officer, ACO Douglas Kouyiri, has refuted claims that the management of the Ghana Fire Service in the region is charging illegal monies for the promotion of officers.
According to him, monies charged were to help facilitate the processing of their documents by the Controller and Accountant General’s department in order for them to receive their areas on time.
He noted that over the years, such has been the practice and failure on the part of service personnel who were due for upgrading and higher salaries to add weight to their document meant that they will have to wait for eternity before they receive their promotions.
“I have been in the service for forty years and I have paid all such monies before. It is not formal and it is not sanctioned by the service but you know in the public service, you need to add weight to the document before it can be processed early for you or else you will have to wait till eternity before your document is worked on.”
Earlier, some fire officers in the Upper East region decried alleged demands for cash by their superiors at the regional headquarters before they are handed promotions due them.
The firefighters confided to Starr News that officers seeking to be upgraded are charged unfixed amounts as contributions for assistance during promotion examinations and, when the examinations are over, they are levied Gh¢40 each for upgrading processing.
“Recently, they charged 97 officers GH¢40 before they were promoted. Calculate it. Multiply the 97 people by GH¢40. Our superiors normally would demand for these monies as charges to facilitate inputs for promotions. They also charge some monies…they don’t have a specific amount- for examiners. The monies are given to examiners and invigilators to allow for officers to teach each other or to teach those who cannot write,” a fire officer told Starr News in a recorded interview.
“It is a like normal practice now. If there is a promotion exam or you need something to be done, you must pay for inputs. But my year, they said each person should pay contributions for examiners. I didn’t pay. I said I don’t have money. But I paid the Gh¢40 for my promotion,” another officer recounted.
