The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a global pandemic and urged countries to continue to implement containment strategies while accelerating their efforts to control the disease.
The Government of Ghana swiftly followed up with the set of containment measures including the enactment of the Imposition of Restrictions Act, 2020 (Act 1012); and on Sunday, March 22, 2020, Ghana’s borders were effectively closed following an order by President Akufo-Addo especially for passenger travels while cargo movements were permitted
As part of the steps to enforce the Presidential order, the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) deployed personnel for ‘Operation COVID Safety’.
According to GIS Press Release No.2020 – 12 of 31 March 2020, about 1,100 of the personnel were assigned to bolster the personnel strength at the borders with 400 personnel joining the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police Service to enforce law and order, and 2,000 personnel assisting the Ghana Health Service to trace and test individuals who travelled into the country between 3rd and 23rd March of this year.
Unfortunately, the closure of borders has left many ECOWAS Community Citizens stranded in Ghana and across the world. They involve a diverse group of people – pretty traders who came in to purchase some merchandise, patients who were referred to some of our teaching hospitals for medical treatment, tourists who came in to visit some places of interest, francophones who were here for short English proficiency courses. The list is endless. However, all these people have one thing in common – a limited budget. How are these people expected to cope and sustain themselves when our international borders and especially the land borders remain closed?
A young Burkinabe woman shared the struggles she goes through every day to feed herself, change clothes and pay her hotel bills. As a result of the unplanned financial burden she has to bear, she resorted to doing certain things that she is not morally and religiously proud of.
Thankfully internal travel restrictions have been lifted and anyone living in Ghana can travel by road or air to any part of the country and even to the border towns. It is therefore not surprising that, every now and then, the media reports arrests of some ECOWAS Community citizens who attempt to return to their home countries through some unofficial border crossings.
For example, the media recently reported that “Nineteen Nigerians, who attempted to travel out of Ghana to Niger through Burkina Faso contrary to the President’s directive on the closure of all the national borders were arrested at Hamile, in the Upper West Region.”. They were sent back to the Ashanti Region where they traveled from.
In most instances, these migrants desperately need to get back home because they are hungry and are desperate for comfort given the risk they see themselves exposed to should they contract the Coronavirus whilst in Ghana. Some are sick and cannot afford medical care here; there are mothers who need to reconnect with their kids left under the care of unknown persons in their home countries. For these reasons and more, any stranded migrant would want to go home by any means necessary.
Admittedly, we are not in normal times. Covid-19 has occasioned a lot of disruptions. The era of the new normal has forced upon us. Any measures aimed at ensuring public health and securing the safety and well-being of Ghanaians and for that matter ECOWAS community migrants living in Ghana should be encouraged and sustained.
However, should the State through the GIS be arresting migrants in their attempt to return home from Ghana? Shouldn’t the apprehended migrants rather be handed over to the appropriate authorities at the official border posts so that they can safely go home and earn a living? It is worth considering variable strategies and approaches as “we learn to live with the coronavirus”, and not forgetting that effective migration and mobility management in these times necessarily require coordination and cooperation of efforts beyond the national level.
By Bright Senam Gowonu
Migration Expert