Comptroller-General Kwame Takyi
The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has explained a social media post in which an immigration officer is showed demanding the proof of citizenship of passengers in a bus.
The video attracted a lot of negative comments, a situation which had prompted the GIS to explain that the action took place at an Inland Immigration Checkpoint.
“The incident took place on Monday, July 13, 2020, at the Anomatoape Inland Immigration Checkpoint of the Half Assini Sector Command in the Western Region.
“Anomatoape Inland Immigration Checkpoint is strategically mounted at the junction between Newtown, an approved entry point with several unapproved routes to Half Assini and the coastal village of Anomatoape, which shares border with Ivory Coast, to intercept persons who enter illegally,” the GIS statement explained.
Continuing, the statement pointed out that “although the call for proof of identity of travelers by the immigration officer may be inappropriate, the circumstances at the time necessitated it, and it was done in the interest of national security.”
Facts are that, prior to the arrival of the bus at the checkpoint, three motor riders suspected to be escorts/agents of the said bus, the statement went on “came and told the officers, including a police officer at the post, that a bus carrying their people would be passing through the Immigration Checkpoint to Half Assini to get them registered for the new Ghana voters’ ID card.”
Apparently, the immigrants had been refused by the people of Newtown to register there because they claimed they were not indigenes of the place and thus were on their way to Half Assini, according to the GIS.
The demeanor of the motor riders created doubts and therefore, the officers became suspicious of their intent and purposes, the statement added.
“While negotiation between the officers and the agents for unhindered passage for the immigrants was ongoing, the bus arrived at the checkpoint.
“The instantaneous and suspicious nature characterizing the event, led to the quick response of the immigration officer to demand proof of identity in the bus, which nonetheless, formed part of the features an immigration officer looked for when examining travel documents of persons entering or leaving the country,” the GIS stated.
The uncoordinated behaviour of the travelers (immigrants) led to further interrogation by the officers, which uncovered the following issues, majority of them were Ivoirians who had come from a village called Maama in Cote d’Ivoire, they entered the country illegally by crossing the river to the Newtown community in Ghana and they had no form of identification on them.
The statement continued that “they have since been handed over to the Jewey Wharf Immigration Border Post and with the support of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority and Bureau of National Investigation, repatriated to Maama in Cote d’Ivoire.
The GIS has given the assurance that it will be professional even as it remains vigilant.
By A.R. Gomda