Post Master: Stop the theft at Ghana Post office

Ghana Post Master General, does it have take more than two months of a registered mail (package) by air from the USA to reach Ghana?

It never occurred to me that numerous complaints by Ghanaians residing abroad that their mails get stolen in Ghana until this despicable and shameless act happened to me between October and December, this year.

The saddest part of this article is the fact that the parcel mailed to Ghana (to Sunyani, to be precise) on October 13 of this year, from the USA, contained medical equipment and a bottle of medicine meant for my sick mother. Even though the parcel was a registered mail via air, with a tracking number and was expected to have arrived in Ghana between three and five business days as assured by the US Postal service, it has not arrived at its destination yet, despite the fact that the tracking number indicates that Ghana Post has taken delivery of it since October 26.

Amazingly, all the telephone numbers listed by Ghana Post on their website to be used for follow-ups and enquiries are not being responded to. For instance, the following three numbers have been belling without response: 0302666647 / 0302664038 / 0302662063. What is the use of listing these numbers if you won’t respond to them? Are they there for decoration sake? How can Ghana thrive with such uncaring, ineptitude, rude and naked thievery in our various post offices in the country? Would the so-called foreign investors we consistently crave for open up to do business in Ghana if country’s postal service cannot ensure the safety of their mails from their business partners abroad?

Missing mails in various post offices in Ghana seem to a be tradition of which some unscrupulous postal workers indulge in with delight; maybe the Postal Master seems to gloss over it or the postal authorities are acquiescence to this impunity and unholy practices because they get a share in the booty, so to speak. Otherwise, one can simply not understand why this practice which is widely known has not been stamped out and bring the perpetrators to book a long time ago.

There are many complaints of mail and monetary thefts in various district post offices in Ghana of which victims have not had any satisfactory response/resolutions from those tasked to man the institution. Many customers using Ghana Post bemoan of missing valuables such electronics and jewelries mailed to their respective families.

Take the Techiman Post Office for instance; there was this young man scavenging and pilfering from people’s mails. Customers kept complaining but nothing was done until he stole a substantial amount of money and absconded with it about three years ago. Even though this theft was widely known in the city, one can hardly conclude if the Post Master in Techiman reported it to his boss for any measures to be taken for the amount involved to be retrieved to government coffers.

I however, refuse to accept that the small but scarce medical equipment and the medicine I mailed to my sick mother have been stolen by someone at Ghana Post. It was mailed through no mean an institution like the Sunyani branch of CHRAJ, with a mailbox to boost. It might have been locked up somewhere and therefore I implore the Post Master to apply all the resources at his disposal to retrieve the package for it to be sent to its rightful owner.

It’s high time the Post Master is succinctly told that enough is enough of the rot at the Ghana Post because that institution seems to be notorious and embarrassingly known to the US Postal authorities for mail theft/fraud. A customer service’s personnel at my area post office divulged to me that Ghana is one of the high risk destinations as far as mail theft is concerned and that many Ghanaians have been complaining of their mails not getting to their families. Is this the name we would like to carve for our dear country? Stealing items such as medical equipment and medicine to old folks is the most wicked and disheartening thing to be done while discharging your duties. Worst thing (s) could happen to you and your dear ones so watch what you steal from postal customers.

Kofi Boateng