As part of measures in fishing out staff with fake degrees and other qualifications, the Local Government Service has hinted of plans to demand original certificates of all staff working with the various Metropolitan, Municipal, District Assemblies (MMDAs) across the country for validation.

“If your certificate is missing start looking for it because there is going to be witch-hunting”. Head of Local Government Service, Dr Nana Ato Arthur has said.

Dr. Arthur made this statement during a familiarization tour in Cape Coast to interact with stakeholders of MMDAs in the Central Region to ensure smooth delivery of quality service at the Local Government Service as the Head of the service.

He called on stakeholders including Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), Coordinating Directors, Development Planners, engineers, accountants, human resource officers, administrators among others to cooperate with Local Government Service to succeed in this regard.

According to him, it has come to the notice of the Local Government Service that a number of professional staff are working without the relevant certificates the reason he will be demanding the original certificates in order to liaise with the appropriate authorities aimed at confirming they indeed acquired those qualifications from the institutions they claim to have.

” Just recently someone who has worked in the service for a while as engineer submitted his certificate awarded by the Kwame Nkrumah University Science and Technology (KNUST) for validation, so they sent a letter to the institution for validation but the request rather shocked them . They did not have such a person passing through KNUST, rather the number on the certificate belong to another person” he hinted.