The officer said his father was initially told his file couldn’t be found
A senior officer of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has recounted how her retired father was forced to pay a bribe to receive his pension benefits.
Speaking at a National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) dialogue focused on strengthening the rule of law and combating corruption, the officer explained that her father had always vowed, as a committed Christian, never to engage in bribery.
However, circumstances left him with little choice if he wanted to access the pension he had earned after working for years.
In a video shared on X, the GNFS officer recounted that after her father retired, he travelled repeatedly from Ho in the Volta Region to Accra to secure his pension. Each time, he was told that his file could not be located.
The officer explained that more than a year after her father’s retirement, he finally delivered the “brown envelope,” to the responsible staff member. Almost immediately afterwards, his file was found and his pension processed.
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According to the officer, this shows just how corrupt the system in Ghana is. Even though the right rules exist on paper, they are rarely followed in practice.
“My father promised himself, as a strong Christian, never to pay a bribe. He ran from Ho to Accra for more than a year. Then, one time when I called him, I said, ‘Papa, I need money.’ He said, ‘My daughter, my retirement money has not been given to me.’ Then I consulted an elderly man, and he said, ‘Tell your father to do an envelope.’
“Whenever my father got to the office, the woman would tell him they could not find his file. But on the very day my father paid that bribe, the file was brought out. So, this tells all of us that our systems are not working,” she recounted.
A senior officer of the Ghana National Fire Service has recounted how her retired father was required to offer a “brown envelope” before being able to receive his pension benefits.
She highlighted the incident, noting the extensive rot in the Ghanaian society and its… pic.twitter.com/bCLp2e9gLp
— SIKAOFFICIAL🦍 (@SIKAOFFICIAL1) February 26, 2026
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