Ghanaian Deportees Refuse To Disembark From Plane

Twenty-four Ghanaians who were deported to Accra from Spain today refused to disembark from the chartered aircraft, claiming that they were not Ghanaians. It took three hours of persuasion by Immigration officers before the deportees, who were accompanied by 60 Spanish officials disembarked.

The deportees, all men claimed they were not Ghanaians but later gave themselves up when they started shouting "choo boi" while others were heard speaking Twi, a Ghanaian language and war chant.

King Authur, one of the deportees, who said he hailed from the Western Region accused the Spanish authorities of giving them a raw deal because they were camped in the Canary Islands and were promised that their resident documents would be regularised for them.

He said they were made to believe that they were being taken to Madrid, Capital City of Spain, only to realise that they were back to Ghana. He said deportees from Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria were discriminated against, while those from Liberia, Mali and Sierra Leone were allowed to stay.

Some of them claimed that they were maltreated and others said they were deceived. According a deportee who pleaded anonymity he refused to disembark because they heard that some of their colleagues taken to Senegal were not accepted by the Senegalese authorities and were flown back to Spain. All attempts to speak to the Spanish officials proved futile.