Ghana Post launches Instant Money Transfer Service

Accra, June 9, GNA - Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of Communication and Technology, on Thursday launched Ghana Post Instant Money Transfer Service and called on the company to take steps to eliminate unnecessary delays in the delivery of service, theft of mails and embezzlement in their operations. The staff should also do away with poor customer relations at their various post offices, he said at the launch in Accra.
The Minister told the Staff and Management not to lose focus of their traditional role as they embarked on a programme of modernization. Instant Money Transfer (IMT) is an electronic money transfer service, which provides fast, convenient, safe and reliable means of sending money to beneficiaries anywhere in Ghana.
The IMT service is a joint initiative by Sky Consult, a local management and investment consulting firm and the Ghana Post. Mr Kan-Dapaah said the establishment of the Postal and Courier Services Regulatory Commission would provide the necessary supervisory capacity over the sector to ensure orderly competition in their operation.
The Minister said negotiations were going on with the Bank of Ghana to come up with a new product dubbed "Post Office Savings Bank" so that fulltime banking services could be extended to rural areas. Mr Kan-Dapaah said the reforms undertaken in the postal sector were revealing the resilience of the company.
"With the advent of new and emerging technologies, the stage has been set for the company to take advantage of new opportunities to re-assert itself as a major promoter of economic development of the country." He noted that reforms in the postal and courier industry did not only liberate the sector from unwarranted controls and threats of obsolescence but also set the sector on course for competition and reliance on the forces of the market to define its destiny.
"I am, therefore, satisfied that today's ceremony provides assurance that the Management and Staff have accepted the challenges and are determined to forge ahead with more innovation to grow the company." Mr Kofi Duah Adonteng, Managing Director of Ghana Post, said the company was making strategic moves in transforming its fortunes in the face of stiff competition. One of such moves was forming business partnerships and alliance to move their business forward.
Mr Adonteng said customers, including rural folks, found the postal order service a very reliable means of money transfer. However, he admitted, the advent of Information Communication Technology, which had brought new and faster ways of transferring and remitting money, was threatening the survival of Postal Order Service. The Company, Mr Adonteng noted, was thus experiencing low returns from the sale of Postal Orders on account of the new and faster ways of transferring money by its competitors.
In finding a solution to the problem, he said, the company took a strategic decision to partner Sky Consult, a local management and investment consulting firm, to fast track its money transfer system. He also noted that there was an increasing phenomenon of counterfeiting of Postal Order and other malpractice noting that between 2000 and 2001 the company lost over 40 million cedis through counterfeit International Postal Orders.
Mr Adonteng said Ghana Post, which had an extensive network covering 400 post offices, was pursuing a computerization programme of its counters in order to give their customers better services. Professor Robert Addo Fening, Board Chairman, thanked the Ministry of Communication and Technology for supporting them in their computerization process.