A security expert in Aflao, Emmanuel Akpaloo has indicated that Agriculture extension officers in the area have compromised their positions as they continue to collect money from people who bring goods into the country through the main border thereby disallowing them to pay required revenue to government.
According to him, the problem of bribing and corruptions at Aflao border is affecting revenue prospects as government is losing huge revenue through the acts.
He said, the absence of national security to put checks on these officials is also another problem and indicated that government must do everything possible to restore public confidence otherwise 2020 will be a very difficult one.,
Emmanuel Akpaloo was speaking in an interview when he tendered in photographs of some Agric extension officers visibly collecting money from importers of Agriculture products, thereby allowing them entering without checking to see whether the goods are of quality and are safe.
He indicated that the failure to prosecute these acts of corruption and ensure accountability has denied citizens of this country proper remedy and strengthened impunity which potentially continue to encourage the act of corruption in the public service.
Emmanuel Akpaloo also averred that government’s decision to recruit 1,000 agriculture extension officers by end of March 2018 to augment the woefully inadequate officers in the system to support the government’s ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ agenda will be a right one if structures are also put in place to monitor the works of these officers.
He said since the Agric extension officers would be migrated onto the payroll of the various district assemblies as employees of the Local Government Service, they must shun the temptations of bribery and corruption so as to help government generate the needed revenue and boost the agriculture sector.
By:PROSPER AGBENYEGA