Ghana Immigration school instructors gnashing at Assin Fosu

Acting Director of Ghana Immigration Service, DCOP Dr. Peter Wiredu

Seventeen (17) male and female instructors of the Ghana Immigration Training School and Academy at Assin Fosu in the Central Region have been sleeping in a single room partitioned into two with plywood on campus and sharing one toilet and bathroom for years now.

The instructors have also not received their monthly salaries for the past 10 months, and some of them have borrowed between GHC1,200 and GHC3,0000 to make ends meet, as they wait for their salaries.

Meanwhile the Commanding Officer of the School, Justice Amevor lives in a three-bedroom self-contained apartment on campus, while the Commandant of the Academy, Isaac Klotey also lives in a comfortable self-contained apartment in town.

The students, who are being trained by the instructors, also live in comfortable hostels on campus.

Some of the instructors, who pleaded anonymity, told Adom News there are nine male instructors living on one side of the plywood partition, and eight female instructors on the other, but they all share same toilets and bathroom.

“We are unable to welcome our family members to this place because there is no privacy - and one of us was recently divorced by his wife because he is not able to entertain the wife here and he is also not able to remit her due to unpaid salaries,” one said.

The instructors said the deplorable conditions in which they live also bring an added challenge of having to wake up very early and use the toilets and shower in turns until all 17 are able to prepare for their daily duties.

They stated that the authorities of the school are fully aware of their plight and they are aware that the Acting Director of Immigration, DCOP Dr. Peter Wiredu had instructed the school authorities to solve the problem but they are dragging their feet on it.

“Anytime we approach the Commandant with our plight he tells us that he has made recommendations to Accra but there has not been any response,” they said.

The instructors are therefore calling on the Acting Director to repost them to other departments of the GIS because “it is obvious the school cannot cater for us in spite of the benefits they are drawing from our skills.”

The instructors teach newly recruited immigration officers stuff like passport processing, entry procedures for immigrants, profiling of illegal immigrants, checking passports and visa, border control movements, marching, and even physical exercises to keep officers fit.

According to them, they also train officers from the Narcotic Control Board, who go to the school in batches for short course.

But an official of the school, who also pleaded anonymity, told Adom News the 17 affected instructors are new in the school and the school is now looking for proper accommodation for them.

The official said so far three apartments have been found in town for them, but “we are waiting for government to make funds ready to pay for them so the instructors can move in.”

He also noted that the officer working on the accommodation for the instructors travelled to the regional headquarters at Cape Coast on Monday and returned late in the night so they were yet to get a report on the matter from him.

The officer however declined to comment on the 10 months non-payment of salaries, saying he was not competent to talk about that.

He referred the salary issue to the Public Relations Officer of GIS, who also told Adom News he needed briefing from the handlers of the matter before he could speak on it.

Story by Ghana/Samuel Nii Narku Dowuona/Adom News