Open Letter to the Commissioner: Was CEPS created to frustrate the Citizenry?
By Fadi Dabbousi
Accra/20/01/2015

Dear Sir/Madam,
And we are walking in the shadows of the valley of death where everything one does hits a stumbling block; frustration, if you will, seems to be the norm with CEPS at all the respective posts along the length and breadth of the country.
This time, we want to delve into your outfit’s operations at the Kotoka International Airport. Other than the flagitious practice of shamefully and facelessly demanding “bakhsheesh” (money hand-outs to wit) or bribe for passing luggage without strict searching, which, by the way, creates the propensity for the smuggling of all sorts of illicit items, a more ominous darkness dwells at the cargo stations.
Items are taxed haphazardly because known institutions, deemed of good financial standing, are the importers. Sometimes, items remain in detention many months after arrival under the pretence of unwarranted investigation so that eventually a so-called embargo would be placed on them resulting in confiscation, which is said inures to the benefit of the officers in charge. Reminiscent is the Cocaine-turned-to-caustic soda at your sister institution, The Ghana Police Service.
In fact the rot of your Service stinks all the way to Babylon. Quite iniquitous it is, I must say, that the irony of the situation is that it would seem as if CEPS is working against the ideals that were enshrined in the relevant instrument that created it while trying to look good; but how can a carcass not smell foul? We, as a nation see CEPS as the proverbial Anti-Christ allowing porosity to hamper our development.
School items like uniforms are held and over taxed for no reason other than perceived shenanigans. Perishable imports seem to be items that would pull the importers’ legs with CEPS pinching them into paying some illegal extras to avoid total losses. We have had many reports of institutionalised charlatanism and this is getting out of hand.
It is enough that we have a government that has made a complete travesty of our lives as Ghanaians and this parody coming out of CEPS, especially at the airport, must not be allowed to be the last straw to break the camel’s back. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!
There is really such a wide chasm between CEPS’ operations here in Ghana and those of other nations to the extent that egregious assumptions are made of our society. The onus lies on you, primarily, to reassert your authority as an honest institution hell-bent on making things work for us. You must not accept anything less than the values you swore to uphold.
Just an innocent question I would like to ask: “Or is it a case of Yentie Obiaa?”
Wake up Commissioner…3y3 a hw3 wo setinamu!