Stop deporting arrested foreigners, jail them in Ghana – Otchere-Darko

A leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Gabby Otchere Darko has said foreigners who are arrested for engaging in illegalities in Ghana should be arrested and be made to face the laws in the country.
He said these persons should not just be deported after being arrested because Ghanaians who are arrested in foreign lands are imprisoned in those countries.

“We should not be quick to deport foreigners who break our laws. If a citizen would be imprisoned for a similar offence then first prosecute and imprison the convicted foreigner before deporting him after serving his sentence. They cannot be treated better than us,” he said in a tweet.

His comments come after 19 Burkina Faso nationals were arrested on the Gwollu stretch, about 807 km from the national capital Accra and deported.

The migrants comprising 13 males and six females were seized while onboard a Wa-bound Hyundai bus with registration number GS 4763 -12 at about 12:18 GMT on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Immigration Service in the Upper West Region, Assistant Inspector Ibn Yussif Duranah Abdul-Mumin Seidu said in a statement on Thursday, June 10 that “Our investigations revealed that the migrants were economic migrants journeying to Ghana for farming and other labour activities.

“They were screened by health personnel before being handed over to the Burkina Faso authorities on the other side of the border.”