Rip-Off At Kotoka Int. Airport

Signals picked up by Today indicate that scores of Ghanaian travellers and importers are being ripped off by security personnel at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

Besides the ripping-off, Today discovered that Ghanaian travellers, especially those who come back home with goods, are also frustrated by these same security workers at the KIA.

These KIA security officers, Today learnt, employ various tactics to upset Ghanaians who arrive from abroad and have brought home some items.

The tactics usually employed by the KIA security officers include unnecessary harassment and demand of bribes from Ghanaian travelers who arrive home at the KIA, Today’s hounding established.

Our investigations further revealed that a Ghanaian traveller is delayed unnecessarily if he/she refuses to grease the palms of these Airport security officers.

And in extreme instances they (the Ghanaian travellers) are not attended to for several hours.

This ongoing practice at the country’s premier international airport, Today was reliably informed, started immediately the Mahama administration exited.

According to a deep throat source close to the KIA, the security officers have resorted to this action to give the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) government a bad name both within and outside the country.

Some Ghanaian importers and travellers who spoke to Today on condition of anonymity described the practice as very disquieting.

According to them, these Airport security personnel demand money from them even after they had paid all the necessary duties.

This, they contended, was usually done in the full view of the public, causing a lot of embarrassment to the country.

What is happening at the KIA currently is despicable; it is something that is giving Ghana a very bad name in the eyes of especially foreigners, because as we are all aware the KIA is an international airport which is patronised not only by Ghanaians but by foreign nationals across the globe,” they intoned.

However, they blamed the Head of Security at KIA, Mr. Daniel Amedor, for doing very little to address the problem.

In their view, the head of security at KIA should take a firm look at the ongoing development at the KIA.

They also called on the government to investigate the matter, stressing that all those who will be found culpable should be prosecuted.

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