The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has warned that it would prosecute landlords and property owners who rent out their facilities to foreigners without proper immigration documents.
Ghana began the massive crackdown after a viral video showing immigration officials being attacked by persons suspected to Nigerian nationals.
The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS),has begun a nationwide crackdown on landlords and property owners who have rented out to non-Ghanaians with no immigration status.
The GIS said the practice of accommodating illegal immigrants over the years led to a high spate of criminal activities that was hard to monitor.
A statement issued by the GIS in Accra and signed by the Comptroller-General, Mr Kwame Asuah Takyi, said the use of such properties by persons who were illegally residing in the country made such owners liable of the offence of harbouring an illegal migrant, as stipulated in Section 52(1)(b) of the Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573).
“Section 52(1)(b) states that a person who knowingly harbours any person whom he knows is to be deported or has reasonable grounds to believe has acted in contravention of this Act commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding GH¢1,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both,” it added.
According to the statement, properties and residences occupied by illegal foreign migrants were being used in most cases to commit crimes against the state, including cyber fraud.
The Public Relations Officer of the GIS, Superintendent Michael Amoako Attah said the service will not relent on its effort to clamp down on illegal immigrants.
“If you are landlord and you want to give your property out to a non-Ghanaians, the law says that be very sure that, that person has proper residential status from the Ghana Immigration service. If we come to your premises and such people are there [without documentation] then you have contravened the law,” he said.
[…] The ministry said that the Federal Government, through its High Commissioner to Ghana, Michael Abikoye, had registered its displeasure over the disheartening incidents. […]
I want to make this very clear to the Ghana Immigration Service. This fight you guys have started will not end well because it will affect the Ghana Economy and it will cost Ghana a lot of damages. And if Nigerians should react to this act it will be so war-some.
The brotherhood between Ghana is very strong and if this should continue it will break this brotherly love.
On the other hand immigration has no right to go into any major city in search of foreigners because they where check at the immigration checking points before they were allowed into the country and of no reasons will immigration go into streets and start arresting anyone and not only arrest but also collecting illegal money from them mostly the Nigerians.
The Ghana police are the worse in this case they go house to house in search of Nigerian, they will jump into their apartment without their knowledge and arrest them for the crime they know nothing about, jumping into someone apartment through his or her fence is a criminal act.
I will use this medium to advice the Ghana government to look into this issue because their are so many Ghanaian in Nigeria and no police or immigration is bothering them for anything, if this act if not treated with care it may lead to crisis and it won’t ends well.
God bless Ghana and Nigeria
This is total Nonsense….do they have resident permit ? Do you know the trouble they cause us here