AFRICANEWS
GhanaGovernment's new stand on aliensCrimeby Amos Safo
The government of Ghana has decided effective February to register all non-Ghanaians resident here to enable it monitor their activities. The government also intends to review the 'Aliens Act' to ensure that non-Ghanaians comply with the laws of the land. The Director of Immigration Services told reporters here that the modalities of the registration exercise was in accordance with the laws of the land which requires non-Ghanaians in the country to be registered. This law has been on the statutory books since independence, but has hardly been applied because of Ghana's pan-African foreign policy. The decision by the authorities to revive the law could be linked to the recent spate of ritual murders and other high-tech crimes perpetrated in Accra to which the government is yet to find clues. The killings sparked public demands on the government to curb the underground activities such as, fake currency dealings of non-Ghanaians. The government could therefore be bowing to public pressure by making such a move. Many foreigners who spoke to this reporter feared that the government may be on the count down to witch-hunting and advised the authorities to be meticulous in carrying out the exercise. Immigration authorities however maintain that some aliens have been abusing the Ghanaian hospitality by indulging in activities detrimental to the economy. The authorities say some investors have either failed to comply with immigration laws or failed to register with the Ghana Investment Promotion Center before engaging in business. The Director of the service explained that some investors who usually transfer money into the country with the approval of the Investment Center tended to divert them into unauthorised businesses such as illegal gold mining and diamond operations, and the importation of goods for sale. According to the Director many investors operating foreign companies do submit fictitious Ghanaian names as partners to give the impression that their ventures were jointly owned. This enables them to evade payment of the required equity under the investment laws. "These are not the type of investors the country needs to achieve economic growth. Those who think they are only here to exploit the economy are warned to change their attitude", he warned. Last year a combined team of the Ghana Police and the Armed Forces raided the diamond mining town of Akwatia in the Eastern Region of Ghana and arrested scores of aliens, mostly Nigerians, Burkinabes, Malians and Nigerians. They were reported to be engaged in illegal diamond operations. After screening, 30 of them were identified to be illegally staying in the country. They were accordingly repatriated on court orders, even though many claimed they were Ghanaians. The last time aliens were repatriated from Ghana was in 1969 when the government of the Second Republic expelled them under the 'Aliens Compliance Order'. Many of those affected were Nigerians who were suspected to be staunch supporters of the Convention Peoples Party of Dr.Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first president. Ghana paid the price in 1983 when the Buhari Administration in Nigeria expelled about two million Ghanaians in retaliation. Ghana is now under the Fourth Republic and 30 years since it first expelled aliens. Will history repeat itself?
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