The Kotoka International Airport (KIA) Regional Command of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), has confirmed the deportation of seventeen (17) Ghanaian from Germany on board a chartered Flight CY3721.
The deportees all males, who are aged between 21 – 60 years were escorted by sixty-seven (67) Police officers, including paramedics. They were deported for immigration related issues such as over- staying their entry permit and illegal stay.
The Seventeen deportees (17) were reported to have stayed in German between three (3) and ten (10) years arrived with fifteen (15) of them arriving on Travel Certificates (TC) issued by Ghana Embassy in Berlin, Germany, and the other two on Ghanaian passports.
In a Statement Issued in Accra and signed by Regional Public Affairs Officer/ Kia, Barbara Sam (ASI) “ten (10) of the deportees are from Ashanti Region, five (5) from Greater Accra, and one each (1) from Bono and the Northern Regions”.
In an interview with one of the deportees who is a University graduate and has lived in Germany since 2016, stated that he is not bitter about the deportation because he was given three months visitors permit to remain in the country but rather stayed beyond that. He said he feels disappointed in himself for wasting all these three years and have not done anything meaningful with his life.
In a related development, the Government of the United Kingdom (UK) has also deported five (5) Ghanaians for over staying their entry permit. The Five (5) who also arrived with a chartered flight HFY221 were under sixty three (63) escorts including two paramedics, and one official from the High Commissioner as an observer.
The deportees who are aged between 26 – 60 years were working and schooling and have lived in the UK for between (5) months and ten (10) years. Three (3) arrived with UK Overstay Certificates issued by the British Authorities and two on Ghanaian passports.
The regional distribution are; Ashanti two (2), Greater Accra two (2) and one from the Bono Regions.
In all, a total of twenty two (22) deportees have been received by the KIA Regional Command from UK and Germany.
They were admitted into the country after going through the necessary arrival procedures including screening to authenticate their nationalities and counselling by a Clinical Psychologist.
Present at the exercise were officials from the Ghana Immigration Service, and other security agencies including National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) who facilitated the transportation of the deportees to their various destinations.
The Commander of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) Regional Command of the Ghana Immigration Service, Assistant Commissioner of Immigration, (ACI) Edith Penelope Arhin, advised, prospective travellers to always endeavour to travel with the requisite documents and visas and also ensure they return within the given period to avoid force deportation. This is because deportation can ruin one’s chance of ever travelling to that country again.
Story filed by Edzorna Francis Mensah
