Help prevent 'fake' travels - High Commissioner to Australia

Ghana's High Commissioner to Australia, Edwin Nii Adjei has appealed to government officials to properly scrutinize traveling documents of people who intend to travel as part of a government delegation.

This, he said would help prevent embarrassments such as the one which recently happened in Australia, where some Ghanaians who traveled under false pretenses as journalists were deported.

In an interview with Graphic Online in the Australian city of Perth, Nii Adjei said the arrest, detention and subsequent deportation of the Ghanaians who had traveled for the Commonwealth Games were very embarrassing.

Related: Missing Commonwealth Games athletes and coach face deportation from Australia

He said the Ghana High Commission in Australia has since made several moves to help correct the wrong perception created about Ghana.

"I believe nobody took the pains to check what was imputed as information on these people. There was a lapse and it was abused," he stated.

Nii Adjei stated that the High Commission was working to project positive images of Ghana abroad, noting that incidents such as people traveling under false pretense in the name of Ghana was a drawback to such efforts.

"Generally, Ghanaians here are well organised and don't create problems here so naturally, that incident did embarrass me a lot,” Nii Adjei said, adding “certainly, something went wrong. No proper vetting was done on the information given and I think these things must be properly checked and supervised before visas are given.”

Read also: 2 Ghanaian athletes disappear from 2018 Commonwealth Games

He spoke to Graphic Online on the sidelines of the Australia-Africa Week (AAW) which opened in Perth on Wednesday, August 29, 2018.

The Austrslia-Africa Week (AAW) organised yearly brings together over 3,000 players from mining and economic industry to discuss pertinent issues for growth and investment opportunities.

It is built around the Africa Down Under (ADU) Conference and this year’s event is highlighting emerging investments and interests for a possible partnership in mining and other sectors.

Investments

Nii Adjei said the Ghana High Commission had taken several steps to get Australian investors into Ghana.

"We have jointly organised exhibitions to show our countries,” Nii Adjei said.

“The African diplomatic corps here also held consultations with the Australian Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Trade to get investors to look beyond the extractive sectors and other areas such as agriculture, petrochemical, tourism and energy," he added.