Flush out unscrupulous auctioneers – Interior Minister urges Board
Mr Ambrose Dery, the Minister of the Interior, on Wednesday, tasked the newly constituted Auctioneers Registration Board to flush out all unscrupulous auctioneers and ensure sanity in the business.
He said auctioneering in recent times had come under public scrutiny due to the crooked activities of some auctioneers and, thus, charged them to keep an eagled-eye on them.
“You need to work harder to redeem your image and put all your expertise together to make the Board function well…,” he emphasised.
Mr Dery said this at the inauguration of a nine-member Auctioneers Registration Board in Accra, after he had administered the Oath of Office and Secrecy to them.
He noted that auctioneers had a critical role to play in the economic development of the nation and, therefore, they needed to sanitise the industry and ensure that only honest and trustworthy persons practice the trade.
This, he said, would reduce the negative reportage about the business in the media and foster public confidence in the professionals.
“As a regulator, the Board needs to intensify its monitoring system to cover the other regions to ensure all members are in good standing,” Mr Dery charged.
The Interior Minister explained that the members of the Board were selected based on their individual skills, expertise, experience and knowledge, therefore, they must bring them to bear in the discharge of their duties.
Mr Henry Quartey, the Deputy Minister of the Interior, who is also the Chairperson of the Board, on behalf of his colleagues, thanked the President for the confidence reposed in them and gave the assurance that they would work diligently to achieve the vision and mission of the Government.
He acknowledged the enormous task entrusted to them and pledged to work effectively and efficiently to manage the auctioneering business in the country.
The Board members are Ms Jemima Mamaa Oware, of the Registrar General’s Department, Mr Frank Sofo, a representative from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, COP Frank Adu-Poku, the Ghana Police Service, and Mr Emmanuel Tetteh Martey, from the Ghana Institute of Surveyors.
The rest are Mr Kofi Christopher Sory, Mr Habib Saad and Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, all nominees of the President.
The Auctioneers Registration Board was established by the Auction Sales Act, 1989 (PNDCL 230), to register auctioneers, grant licences to auctioneers or to revoke or suspend the licences of members.
It is also to establish standards for the conduct of auction sales and to receive complaints made by a member(s) of the public in respect of registered auctioneers or relating to an auction sales and take appropriate disciplinary action.
The Board is supposed to keep a register of all licensed auctioneers in the country.
Source: GNA