Auctioneers urged to register

Page 3, April 12, 2008
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Ministry of the Interior has directed all auctioneers who have not registered to do so or face a ban from operating in the country.
A Minister of State at the ministry, Nana Obiri Boahen, who gave the directive, said it was aimed at streamlining the operations of auctioneers in order to weed out the unscrupulous ones.
“It has come to the notice of the ministry that some unscrupulous individuals are going around calling themselves auctioneers, while, in actual fact, they are not known to the ministry,” he said.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Nana Boahen said very soon the ministry would publish the names of auctioneers in good standing as part of measures to weed out the unscrupulous ones.
He said the ministry would also make a proposal to all government ministries, departments and agencies to check the background of the auctioneers they employed in order not to hire the services of quack ones.
Nana Boahen stated that currently there was a rumpus in the rank of auctioneers as a result of a constitutional provision that made it mandatory for all auctioneers to belong to the Association of Auctioneers.
He explained that though the law currently made it mandatory for all auctioneers to belong to the association, “I personally believe that the law should be tested at the Supreme Court”.
Nana Boahen said in his view, auctioneers who did not belong to the association but who had registered with the ministry should be allowed to operate.
He explained further that since the Constitution guaranteed freedom of association, he would not be surprised if someone sought an interpretation of the law in future.