{"id":1174104,"date":"2022-08-11T11:18:55","date_gmt":"2022-08-11T11:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/08\/11\/commissioner-of-customs-denies-allegations-of-inciting-officers-to-strike\/"},"modified":"2022-08-11T11:18:55","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T11:18:55","slug":"commissioner-of-customs-denies-allegations-of-inciting-officers-to-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/08\/11\/commissioner-of-customs-denies-allegations-of-inciting-officers-to-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"Commissioner of Customs denies allegations of inciting officers to strike"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-text\" style=\"line-height: 2; letter-spacing: -0.5px;font-size: 18px;\">\n<p>                        <!--p class=\"ky_saved_articles_link\"><span class=\"ky_saved_articles_hide\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\" class=\"ky_saved_articles_img\" alt=\"Commissioner of Customs denies allegations of inciting officers to strike\" title=\"Commissioner of Customs denies allegations of inciting officers to strike\"><\/span> Bookmark<\/p-->\n<p>Commissioner of Customs, Col Kwadwo Damoah (Rtd) has denied allegations of inciting officers to embark on strike in demand for delayed promotion.<\/p>\n<p>The paramilitary organisation which belongs to the Operational Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority in July embarked on a sit-down strike.<\/p>\n<p>The Commissioner says though his office is fighting for the welfare of officers, strike is not an option for him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy on earth will a military officer, Commissioner Customs, incite custom officers to go on strike? That will be the last thing that I will do. But I will fight for their right. That is my duty to do as a Commissioner of Customs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p><div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"WCBCZqbktd8\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Don\u2019t hide behind people for your failures and deal with me \u2013 Commissioner of Customs to S.P.\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WCBCZqbktd8?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>He made these comments at the Customs Division Management Retreat in Kumasi.<\/p>\n<p>The sit-down strike which lasted hours affected operations at the country\u2019s entry points.<\/p>\n<p>The Kotoka International Airport and its Cargo Terminal were grounded to a halt due to the strike.<\/p>\n<p>According to Col Damoah (Rtd), there is evidence showing some officers are deemed for promotion but have been denied.<\/p>\n<p>However, he did not do anything to encourage the officer to lay down their tools.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-myjoyonline-com wp-block-embed-myjoyonline-com\"\/>\n<p>\u201cIf my officers are denied promotion and I say it, and I give evidence to show why they should be given promotion. And it happens that the Staff Association come up with things and that coincide with my aspirations and what I have demanded, does it mean I have incited them to go on strike?\u201d he quizzed.<\/p>\n<p>Colonel Damoah reveals after taking over office in 2019, there have been several attempts to discredit his personality.<\/p>\n<p>He reiterated his readiness to stand trial over alleged wrongdoings.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Labianca allegation fight-back<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Customs has cast doubt on the Office of the Special Prosecutor\u2019s claims of corruption against some of its officials in the case of Labianca Company.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-myjoyonline-com wp-block-embed-myjoyonline-com\"\/>\n<p>The Special Prosecutor recovered an amount of \u00a21.074 million from the  owned by a member of the Council of State, Eunice Jacqueline Buah Asomah-Hinneh.<\/p>\n<p>The OSP contended that Ms Asomah-Hinneh used her position as a member of the Council and member of the Board of Directors of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) to get a favourable decision from the Customs Division of GRA.<\/p>\n<p>A Deputy Commissioner of Customs in charge of Operations, Joseph Adu Kyei was also cited by the OSP for issuing what it described as an unlawful customs advance ruling.<\/p>\n<p>This, according to the report, reduced the benchmark values of the goods imported by Labianca Limited translating to reduced tax obligations of the  to the state.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the Customs Division Management Retreat at Kumasi, the Commissioner of Customs, Col. Kwadwo Damoah (Rtd) insists the report of the Special Prosecutor was released with malicious intent.<\/p>\n<p>Col Damoah (Rtd) believes it was meant to discredit the Customs officers adding that the OSP \u201cis trying to indict the deputy and myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd anyone of you who has read that report, very well, will know the basis of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to him, prior to the release of the report, there were unsuccessful attempts to dishonor his name.<\/p>\n<p>He suspects that this action emanated from his [Col Damoah\u2019s] refusal to allow one Mr. Akrugu to second Kissi Agyebeng\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wanted Mr Akrugu to be seconded to his office and I said \u2018no\u2019, Mr Akrugu is a customs officer, primarily employed to do customs work. And he is to partner Mr. Akoto Fakyin in that office, Africa Continental Free Trade Area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He further said, \u201cI am ready for any prosecution, that is what you must be doing, not to say, if you do further investigations up to 2017. Up to 2015, I had debtors written by Deputy Commissioner, Sandra Agorhu granting similar things and I produced them when he called me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t disgrace me, don\u2019t hide behind people for your own failures and incompetency and deal with me,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n<p>                <!-- Post Tags --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Commissioner of Customs, Col Kwadwo Damoah (Rtd) has denied allegations of inciting officers to embark on strike in demand for delayed promotion. The paramilitary organisation which belongs to the Operational Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority in July embarked on a sit-down strike. The Commissioner says though his office is fighting for the welfare of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1174106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[2393,6774,3352,66,17571,2729,186],"class_list":["post-1174104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics","tag-allegations","tag-commissioner","tag-customs","tag-denies","tag-inciting","tag-officers","tag-strike"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1174104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1174104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1174104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1174104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}