Port Workers want looting investigated

A number of workers at the Tema Port have called on the Office of the Chief of Staff to help trace a number of items and cars that were confiscated by a special military detachment formerly stationed at the port.

They suggested that it should be investigated whether the items, which included cars and electrical gadgets, were properly acquired by the soldiers before taking them away when they were ordered to leave the port by January 8, this year.

However, when the GNA contacted WO 1 Yaw Nkwantabisa, head of the detachment, he denied any looting on the part of his men and said items that they took away were personal effects they acquired during their 17 and-a-half years stay at the port.

He also denied allegations that his men broke into the offices of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) at the port where he was formerly occupying and stole a telephone receiver and a fan.

WO 1 Nkwantabisa said when the commander of the 64 Battalion ordered them to quit the port by January 8, they took away the telephone receivers in their own offices but did not break into the BNI offices.

He said they took their telephone receivers away because they were supplied to them from the Castle and not by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA).

WO1 Nkwantabisa said when a survey was conducted to extend phone lines to the port, his outfit was the first among the list but they were left out during the installation of the phones.

When contacted, Mr Samuel Akuamoah Boateng, Principal Public Relations Manager of the Tema Port, confirmed that the BNI had reported about the burglary of its office in the Port and the case was being investigated.

He also confirmed that the GPHA did not supply the military detachment with any telephones.