The Immigration Service Council (ISC), led by its chairperson, Dr. Edward Prempeh, has called for thorough security checks at the newly-constructed Terminal Three at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in Accra.
Members of the council made the observation when they paid a day’s working visit to the facility to apprise themselves with the processes at the Terminal and to ensure that the immigration work stations built to monitor and regulate the entry and exit of travelers meet international standards. They were met upon arrival at the airport by the KIA Immigration Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Immigration (ACI) Edith Penelope Arhin and some management members of the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL).
The Council received briefings on the structural design, as well as the output of the new Terminal since it became fully operational on September 15 2018.
They were conducted round the facility by Stephen Kpabitey Osom and William Kwaku Dogbetse, Assistant Managers of Terminal Operations at the KIA.
Interacting with members of the Council and GACL, the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Kwame Asuah Takyi disclosed that about 100 personnel of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) had been deployed to man the new terminal.
“It’s expected that with the measures and resources that have been marshaled by the Service, it will help to reduce to the barest minimum, the Passenger Processing Time (PPT) at the arrival and departure halls, bringing it at par with international best practices,” he added.
Some areas of the Terminal visited included the arrival and departure halls, immigration booths, offices and fraud laboratory, detention cells, boarding gates, business lounges, retail area, weighing area, Commercial Important Persons (CIP) Terminal and food court.
The Council members included Matthew Amponsah, representative of the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General’s Department; Adelaide Anno-Kumi, representative of the Interior Ministry; Ambassador K. Hodari Okae, representative of the Retired Senior Immigration Officers Association; Stella D. Williams, representative of Finance Ministry, Anthony Namoo and Hagar Dery, the President’s nominees, and the Secretary to the Council, Deputy Commissioner of Immigration (DCI) Maud Anima Quainoo.