Ghana, anchor of security in West Africa — German Envoy

The Deputy Ambassador of Germany to Ghana, Mr Hans-Helge Sander, has lauded Ghana as the anchor of security in West Africa.

“Ghana has shown leadership in border security, which is one of the key areas of national security,” he stated.

The Deputy Ambassador made the remark last Wednesday when the Federal Police of Germany presented document fraud detection equipment to the Training Centre of the Document Fraud Expertise Centre (DFEC) of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).

The equipment includes an electronic microscope, a modular stereo microscope and a mobile microscope, which will aid in document forensic training of officers of the GIS.

Mr Sander praised the GIS for chalking up a lot of successes in the area of border security, adding: “The German Embassy is happy to support Ghana in the fight against document fraud.”

He advised the service not to renege on building the capacity of officers towards the effective scrutiny of travel documents.

Gratitude

The Deputy Comptroller-General of Immigration (DCGI) in charge of Finance and Administration, Mrs Judith Dzokoto-Lomoh, who received the items on behalf of the service, expressed gratitude to the German government and the Federal Police for the kind gesture, a statement signed by the Head of Public Affairs, Supt. Michael Amoako-Atta, and issued by the GIS said.

Mrs Dzokoto-Lomoh gave an assurance that the equipment would be put to good use for the benefit of the country, the comity of nations and other stakeholders in the migration sub-sector, stressing: “It will help bolster activities of the training centre.”

She explained why the donation was timely and said it would help arrest the dynamism in migrant crime, noting that the gesture was a demonstration of international cooperation in tackling transnational crime.

“More needs to be done to ensure that neighbouring countries and other sister countries receive only desirable immigrants,” she added.

The DCGI called on the personnel of the service to go beyond detecting fake documents to building strong cases to prosecute and secure the conviction of offenders to serve as a deterrent to would-be offenders.

She advised the personnel to take good care of the equipment, adding: “Most importantly, we should deliver results.”

The Second-in-Command (2IC) at the DFEC, Superintendent of Immigration Mr Frank Apronti, explained that all migration-related crimes, including drug trafficking, human trafficking, smuggling and terrorism, were rooted in fraudulent documents.

“These devices will simplify document examination and their mobility will prove very useful in training officers across the borders,” he said.

Occasion

Present at the presentation ceremony were the DCGI in Charge of Command Post and Operations, Mr Laud Kwesi Affrifah; the Officer in Charge of the DFEC, Chief Superintendent of Immigration (CSI) Mr Kwabena Somuah Amponsah; the Regional Capacity Building Officer, Mr Alistair Rushton; the Police Liaison Officer of the Federal Police of Germany, Dirk Kattlun, and the Visa and Document Advisor at the Federal Police of Germany, Mr Frank Dukpe.