Ghana Post has outlived its use – MP

National Courier Service, Ghana Post Company Limited says it has been compelled to close down over 100 of its branches nationwide due to high unsustainable operational costs.

The Company says the overhead operational costs of these offices cannot be sustained with their internally generated funds.

The Ranking Member of the Public Accounts Committee, Kofi Okyere Agyekum felt a shutdown of Ghana Post was in order and argued that the country would not lose anything by shutting down Ghana Post.

“Sometimes we get very sentimental and attached to a product because it is a national brand but if you look at all the indicators, probably we should let it go.”

“You see, these days, people are getting letters on their phones, they are getting money on their phones and the parcels are being carried by the transport companies and I ask myself: if Ghana post didn’t exist, what would Ghanaians have lost?”

The relevance of Ghana Post came up for discussion at the Public Accounts Committee hearing on Thursday, with some Members questioning its value in the light of what they said were more effective private courier services.

Managing Director of Ghana Post, James Coffie said the Company had been poorly run prior to his assumption of office.

“The truth of the matter is that, because in the past, we didn’t run Ghana Post well, some of the branches became commercially unviable… over 100 post offices do not make enough post offices do not make enough money to cover the cost of operations at those post offices.”

“You have some post offices that the cost of running the place is GHc1,200 but they generate GHc500 in revenue a month,” he revealed to the Committee.

Commitments to improving service

In May 2017, Ghana Post said it was in the process of overhauling its systems and operations to improve service delivery throughout the country in response to several complaints of poor service of the company by some Ghanaians.

Its management said it intended to create a single customer service department for all product lines and undertake customer service training.

Among other things, it said, it would also introduce performance targets for its staff to ensure that they deliver effectively on customer expectations.

The Minister for Communications, Ursula Owusu Ekuful, when she was being vetted, said she was committed to making Ghana Post an efficient and profitable state agency as the potential to expand and play a vital role in improving modern communication in the country, especially in rural areas.