The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has affirmed the government’s resolve not to be complacent in its security management of the country.
“We are alert and working to ensure that citizens and all who enter Ghana are safe and continue to go about their activities without fear,” he indicated.
To that end, he explained that, the government was committed to the full implementation of the Immigration Service Act, 2016 (Act 908), aimed at injecting more efficiency and effectiveness into the Ghana Immigration Service.
Dr Bawumia was speaking at a graduation parade for 357 officer cadets at the Ghana Immigration Service Academy and Training School at Assin Fosu in the Central Region held last Friday.
He indicated that: “The government has delivered on our promise of procuring arms and ammunitions for the Service to boost its operations and enhance security at our borders”.
“The Ghana Immigration Service will be equipped with specialised surveillance equipment, regional offices, residential accommodation and other critical logistics,” he said.
The government, he indicated, since the assumption of office had tremendously increased the resource of the Ghana Immigration Service.
He explained further that: “The complexity of globalisation and its impact on migration and security management calls for augmentation of the human resource requirement of the Ghana Immigration Service, both in numbers and incapability”.
He noted that the Service occupied a very strategic position towards achieving peace and security as well as economic prosperity.
The Ghana Immigration Service, he said, was responsible in managing the country’s borders and the issuance of visas to non-Ghanaians as well as playing a sensitive role in national security, trade and investment facilitation, tourism and for that matter, national development.
He further said: “The management of migration and its implication on security across the world keeps assuming intricate dimensions with each passing day. That, notwithstanding, the benefit that accrue in the effective management of migration cannot be under estimated”.
The government, he stated, would ensure that, the Ghana Immigration Service, adopt to a more innovative and robust approach to managing migration in the collective interest of the state.
“I know you have embraced modern technology as the most reliable tool for reaching this goal. Evidence of this, is the implementation of the technology put in place for paperless input for travellers’ data at the Kotoka International Airport in March this year,” he said.
The government, he noted, would not renege on its responsibilities of providing the logistics needed for the Ghana Immigration Service to deliver on its mandate.
Dr Bawumia further expressed the government’s determination to rid the country of all types of crimes, and resolve to resource all the security services to enable them to enforce the law.
The Akufo-Addo led administration, he explained, would procure high performance vehicles to support the operations of the Ghana Immigration Service, saying, “the Service is already making important arrests of some foreigners counterfeiting our currency and others involved in cyber-crime thereby damaging the image of Ghana”.
He also indicated that, the internally generated fund retention, had been increased from 15 per cent to 20 per cent and said, the Ghana Immigration Service would soon witness commencement of work on its headquarters’ project to resolve the enormous office space and operational challenges of the Service.