<<Print>>

Some personnel of the Ghana Fire Service in Accra are raising red flags over what they call unfair promotion of junior officers in the service. According to them, authorities of the Fire Service do not adhere to the terms and conditions which entitle a junior officer to be promoted to the senior officer status after he or she has worked in the service for 8 years and has attained a degree in a tertiary institution. The officers say they were not promoted last year though they fit the criterion for selection. They do not understand why other people outside the Fire Service were recruited and promoted as senior officers. The disappointed fire service personnel fear they could be side-lined this year also because the authorities have lifted the requirement for work experience in the service from 8 years to 11 years, a development which they say will not favour the majority of officers who were not promoted last year. One of them who spoke to XYZ News on condition of anonymity said he suspects the recruitment and promotion of people outside the Fire Service is a ploy by the government to fulfill its job creation agenda. But authorities of the Ghana Fire Service have refuted the allegation. The Public Affairs Director of the Service, Prince Anaglatey in an interview with XYZ News said the aggrieved fire officers were not promoted last year because there was no suitable vacancy. �You just don�t promote people when there is no vacancy; we are doing everything possible to ensure that they are given the opportunity. Everybody wants to work with people that have ability and the qualification�nobody is refusing to promote them� Mr. Anaglatey said.