17,000 Ghanaians seeking asylum in Togo? Interior Ministry to investigate claims
The Interior Ministry is investigating claims by the Togolese Government that over 17,000 Ghanaian asylum seekers are in that country as a result of intermittent communal conflicts in the Northern Region of Ghana since 1993.
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The Minister of the Interior, Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, announced this when the ministry took its turn at the meet-the-press series at the Information Ministry in Accra yesterday.
He said a Togolese delegation recently visited Ghana on the issue, adding that a delegation from Ghana would also visit Togo to ascertain the truth or otherwise of the claim.
Mr Ahwoi said it was difficult to determine whether those seeking asylum were proper refugees, as majority of the people living along the borders had relatives living in neighbouring countries and easily crossed over whenever the need arose.
Communication project
The Interior Minister also announced that the government, with funding from the European Union (EU) and the Canadian Government, was running an airport communication project (AIRCOP) under which intelligence would be exchanged among law enforcement agencies in West Africa, on the movement of narcotic drugs.
The aim of the project, he said, was to establish effective communication on the movement of drugs from selected source countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Mr Ahwoi said seven airports in the West African sub-region were taking part in the project.
Police Service
According to Mr Ahwoi, the Ministry of Finance was processing a loan for the procurement of operational logistics for agencies under the ministry, including the police.
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He said the rolling out of police visibility and accountability through patrols and community policing, as well as the tent cities and mounted motorbikes nationwide, had greatly helped in the management of crime in the country.
On accommodation for police personnel, the minister said the government alone could not provide all the accommodation needs and had thus embarked on a public/private partnership (PPP) programme for residential and office accommodation for the service and its personnel.
He said 817 Ghanaians living abroad renounced their Ghanaian citizenship for that of other countries in 2013, saying out of the number, 367 were males, while 450 were females living in Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Austria, among others.
Challenges
The minister mentioned the increasing involvement of the youth in the commission of crime, including armed robbery, the absence of non-custodial sentencing or measures, the weak enforcement of migration laws, leading to the influx of illegal immigrants, and inadequate human resource as some of the challenges facing the ministry.