Allegations Of Recruitment, Visa Fraud Against GIS Boss PRO Shifts Goalpost

Stakeholders in Ghana�s security set up have expressed worry about the refusal of the Ghana Immigration Service to address allegations of Visa Fraud that rocked the service recently. They believe that the choice of digression by Acoi Francis Palmdeti, Head of Public Affairs at servicefrom the allegations of Visa Fraud leveled against Dr Peter Alfred Wiredu, Director-General of GIS, have cast a slur on the image of the service and ought to be properly addressed. Whereas the petitioner was raising serious allegations against the GIS boss, the Acoi Francis Palmdeti, was busying himself attacking the integrity and sanity of the accuser. It will be recalled that a former Deputy Superintendent of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) petitioned President John Dramani Mahama over alleged fraudulent visa deals involving the Director-General of GIS, Dr Peter Alfred Wiredu. According to the petition dated Monday December 16, 2013 and sent to the seat of government, the D-G is involved in the acquisition of illicit visas from the United States Embassy in Accra for prospective travelers to the USA at astronomical cost. The petitioner, Mr Joseph Anthony Ayienaab, said in 2011, he was transferred from the Western Region to the GIS Headquarters in Accra and was later introduced to the D-G by one Kofi Marfo, who is also a nephew of the Immigration Boss. �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�, he narrated. He continued that he was informed by the D-G that he could also influence the recruitment of prospective candidates into the service and that he would like him (Ayienaab) to do the business of finding recruits ready to pay for their recruitment into the service. �Upon this assurance from the D-G, I was able to get twenty-two would-be recruits at a fee of one thousand two hundred Ghana Cedis (GH�1200) per person totaling twenty-six thousand four hundred Ghana Cedis (GH� 26,400). According to him, the entire amount was passed on to the D-G, but he (the D-G) did not get the individuals recruited into the service. He appealed to President Mahama as a matter of urgency, to bring fairness in the mistreatment that has been meted out to him, economically, socially and order full scale investigations of the activities of the D-G to let sanity prevail in the service. Reacting to the allegation, Acoi Francis Palmdeti Head of Public Affairs at the Ghana Immigration Service said the officer who petitioned the president has a number of disciplinary issues pending against him. According to him, the only reason why the petitioner has not appeared before a trial panel is because he is presently being investigated by the Police. He said the GIS have received quite a number of complaints from various quarters against him, all bordering on fraud. �One such complaint is a debt he has incurred to the tune of GHC 25,610.00 to a Car Rental company [Progressive Alfat Car Rentals] which is also being handled by the Police. Joseph Ayienaab is currently on interdiction and the disciplinary orders indicate that a person on interdiction is not entitled to full salary until the case has been fully determined�. Produced below is the petition by Joseph Anthony Ayienaab and the responds from Acoi Francis Palmdeti. BELOW IS THE FULL PETITION His Excellency the President of The Republic of Ghana, Flagstaff House, Accra. Dear Sir, PETITION AGAINST DR. PETER ALFRED WIREDU, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF GHANA IMMIGRATION AUTHORITY, AND COP ROSE ATINGA BIO FOR UNFAIR TREATMENT I am a Deputy Superintendent of Immigration (DSI) stationed at the headquarters, Accra. I was transferred from the Western Region sometime in 2011 to the Headquarters. When I was in the Western Region, I had a friend by name Kofi Marfo who is the nephew of Dr. Peter Wiredu, the present Director General of the Ghana Immigration Service. Upon my transfer to the Headquarters, Kofi Marfo introduced me to his uncle, Dr. Peter Wiredu, who is my boss and I have been running errands for him since. You�re Excellency, sometime ago, Dr. Wiredu asked me to look out for prospective travellers who needed Visas to travel to the United States of America since according to him he could facilitate the acquisition of Visas for them to travel. I obliged and within some time I was able to get 159 prospective travellers for him. Dr. Wiredu also asked me to find people he could recruit into the Ghana Immigration Service. Dr. Wiredu demanded between GH�1, 500.00 and GH�2, 500.00 each for the acquisition of the visa and Ghc1, 200.00 from the 22 prospective recruits into the Ghana Immigration Service. All monies paid were handed over to Dr. Wiredu. Upon receipts of the monies, Dr. Wiredu failed to procure the Visas for the people and also failed to recruit the 22 people into the Ghana Immigration Service. The result is that I came under constant attack by the people both at home and in the office and therefore could not go to work any longer. I reported the issue to Dr. Wiredu who promised to refund the monies to the people but he has failed or refused to do so. Your Excellency, when the issue became too difficult for me to handle due to the fact that Dr. Wiredu decided not to pick my calls again, I decided to confide in a friend to assist me but unknown to me thisfriend also knows Dr. Wiredu very well. In fact I told my friend that I wanted to seek the assistance of the media in resolving the issue with Dr. Wiredu. Unfortunately my friend leaked the information to Dr.Wiredu and he quickly lodged a complaint with the Criminal Investigation Department (C.I.D) of the Ghana Police Service and I was arrested. I was detained for four days before my statement was taken and I was eventually granted bail. Later, I was told by the investigator on the case that there was going tobe a meeting between Dr. Wiredu, my-self and COP Rose Atinga Bio, whom I got to know knew something about the Visa and the recruitment exercise organized by Dr. Wiredu through me. The meetingnever came on because the two of them failed to turn up any time we were supposed to meet. Later I was informed by the investigator that the meeting was postponed indefinitely. Your Excellency, as at now, Dr. Wiredu has not settled his indebtedness to the people and would not pick my calls. COP Rose Atinga Bio is also not picking my calls. However I have been put on half monthly salary although I have not been officially interdicted and no disciplinary proceedings has been commenced against me either. Your Excellency, I am deeply saddened by this development and I feel cheated and embarrassed by the behaviour of my boss Dr. Peter Wiredu. Your Excellency, I therefore wish to petition you as the President of this country whom I know believe in Justice and fairness to order full scale investigation into the matter and cause justice to prevail. I hope my Petition will receive early attention to enable me resume work and cater for my family. I remain yours faithfully, JOSEPH ANTHONY AYIENAAB