Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey
The government has not agreed to receive migrants from the United Kingdom (UK) for processing and resettlement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has indicated.
This was contained in a statement released by the Ministry following a report which claimed that the United Kingdom government is drawing plans to send hundreds of migrants to countries such as Ghana and Rwanda for resettlement.
According to the statement dated January 18, the government does not intend to consider any such arrangement in the future.
“It is recalled in this regard that the Ministry on the 8th of September, 2021, debunked in a tweet, a news item on Sky News UK about a possible Ghana interest in a partnership agreement with the UK to host deported or returned migrants of Third Countries from the UK. The position of the Government has not changed,” the statement read.
According to a recent BBC report, the UK Times newspaper quoted unnamed government sources as saying the plan is one of the populist policies being drawn up to save Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s embattled premiership.
“Ministers are willing to pay hundreds of millions of pounds a year to any nation willing to take up its offer, although none has done so,” the Times reported.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has however, urged the public to ignore the publication because the government has not shown interest in such plans.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri