<<Print>>

A former Deputy Superintendent of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), has petitioned President John Dramani Mahama, over alleged fraudulent deals, including visa racketeering and bribe collection, being perpetrated by the Director-General (D-G) of the Servie, Dr. Peter Alfred Wiredu. The petitioner, Joseph Anthony Ayienaab, claimed that the Immigration Service boss, last October tried using his boys at the Headquarters of the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to cover up his alleged fraudulent acts, by having him arrested and unlawfully detained for four days. According to the petition dated Monday, December 16, 2013 and sent to the seat of Government, the D-G is neck deep in the acquisition of illicit Visas, from the United States Embassy in Accra for prospective travelers to the USA, at various sums of money. The Herald�s attempt to reach Dr. Peter Alfred Wiredu for his reaction was unsuccessful. However, the Corporate Affairs Director of the GIS, Francis Pam-Detty, told The Herald in a reaction to the claims when reached that, he know Mr. Ayienaab, but doubted his boss would be involved in anything dirty, especially bribe collection from prospective recruits. Though he is yet to lay hands on Mr. Ayienaab�s petition, Mr. Pam-Detty, said that Joseph Anthony Ayienaab, had to stay away from work, following complaints lodged against him by officials of a private car rental company, who accused him of hiring their cars to the tune of GH�21,000 and refused to pay. Mr. Ayienaab, who gave his address as House Number MD 315/5 Madina Old Road in Accra said, in 2011, he was transferred from the Western Region to the GIS Headquarters in Accra and was introduced to the D-G by one, Kofi Marfo, who is also a nephew of the D-G. �I became an accomplice of the D-G, he informed me of his ability to facilitate the acquisition of Visas from the US Embassy for prospective travelers across the country�. The petitioner said, he was informed by the D-G that he could also influence the recruitment of prospective candidates into the Immigration Service, and that he would like him (Ayienaab) to do the business of finding recruits ready to pay for their recruitment into the security establishment. �Upon this assurance from the D-G, I was able to get twenty-two would-be recruits at a fee of one thousand and two Hundred Ghana Cedis (GH�1200) per a person, totaling Twenty-six thousand and four hundred Ghana Cedis (GH� 26,400). The entire amount, was passed on to the D-G, but he (the D-G) did not get the individuals recruited into the service, I later informed the D-G about developments that the would-be recruits, were harassing me over their failure to be recruited into the service, but he ignored me,� the petition stated. The two-page petition further said that the affected persons, both the US Visa applicants and the would-be recruits started demanding their monies and the pressure became unbearable so, �I informed the D-G about it, but he further ignored me�. The petitioner said, the D-G did nothing about the situation, only for the individuals to start threatening his life, which compelled him (Ayienaab) to stop going to the office, because any time he did, the applicants came chasing him for their money. Even though the D-G was aware I do not go to work, because of the incessant demands by the applicants to have their monies paid, the D-G ordered that he (Ayienaab) be paid half of his salary at the end of the month, in spite of the fact that I was not on interdiction. The petitioner said, he later confided in one Mr. Nartey at the National Security Secretariat, unknowingly Mr. Nartey had links with D-G, and later informed him (Wiredu) about his intension to make the matter public. Dr. Wiredu interestingly lodged a complaint at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, where I was arrested in October 2012. I was detained for four days, I gave my statement, later I was told that I had a confrontation with the D-G over the management of the Service. The petitioner is, therefore, appealing to the President as a matter of urgency to order a probe into the maltreatment that has been meted out to him, both economically and socially. To him, investigating his case, as well as, investigations into the activities of the D-G, will let sanity prevail in the GIS. Francis Pam-Detty, said the issue against Ayienaab was reported to him in his capacity as the Corporate Affairs Director of the GIS, which he started investigating, but Mr. Ayienaab, was nowhere to be found. Mr. Pam-Detty, described the Immigration boss as �one of the fineness gentlemen and humble men� and expressed the desire to speak to the issues raised in the petition by Mr. Ayienaab, when he gets a copy of the petition. �I have worked with Dr. Wiredu for the past three years and I know him to be an honest man, who fought to build his reputation. In this country people go extra length to build reputations, only for it to be destroyed with petitions sent to the Presidency, which finds it ways into the media,� he worried. He said, he has been trying to get the D-G to speak with him, since he picked intelligence about the circulation of the petition in the media, but to no avail. He insisted the service will prepare its reaction to some of the issues raised in the petition, when it gets a copy.