Fire Service uniform saga: Govt awaiting outcome of investigations

Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, Minister of the Interior, has said the government will wait for the outcome of investigations currently going on in the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) uniform saga before commenting on the issue or taking any decision.
A three-man committee has been set up by the GNFS to investigate allegations of impropriety in the importation of sub-standard camouflage uniforms for the Service by Jild Ventures, the contractor, and submit their report in a week.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic yesterday, he said, “Once the board has set up the committee, we should wait for them to finish their work”.

The minister said the government would have initiated the same step taken by the GNFS board to set up a committee to look into the supply of service uniforms considered inferior.

Mr Ahwoi said he was following all the issues that were coming up in relation to the supply of the contentious uniforms. “It is very intriguing. Let’s see what happens,” he said.

Uniforms meant for cadet corps

Addressing the media last week Friday, Brigadier-General John Bosco Guyiri, the Chief Fire Officer, said the uniforms imported into the country for the National Fire Service were meant for cadet corps and fire volunteers of the service.

He said as soon as the service realised some of the uniforms had defects, they recalled them.

According to the GNFS, some of the imported uniforms were torn and stitched, some had foreign name tags and others were faded.

The uniforms were “faded, some were torn, some of them were not the colours and so quickly the directive was given that all the uniforms must be called back,” the Chairman of the Fire Service Council, Amadu Sorogho said.

Sanctions for those implicated

Brigadier-General Guyiri said anyone who would be implicated in the report of the committee would be dealt with according to the Service Code of Conduct and related conditions of service.

He, however, stated that some of the issues raised in various sections of the media on the uniforms were untrue.

By Edmund Smith Asante/Daily Graphic/Ghana
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