A total of 22 Ghanaian nationals were on September 18, 2019 deported from Europe: Germany and the United Kingdom.

Seventeen (17) of them arrived in Accra from Germany on board chartered flight CT3721, a release from the Ghana Immigration Service has confirmed.

The all-male deportees aged between 21 and 60 years were sent back to Ghana for overstaying their entry permit accompanied by 66 police officers including paramedics.

Ten out of the 17 deportees who have stayed in Germany between 3 and 10 years are from the Ashanti region, five from the Greater Accra region, and one each from the Bono and Northern regions.

One of the deportees, who is a University graduate and has lived in Germany since 2016, told Immigration officers in Ghana 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 rather said he feels “disappointed” in himself for “wasting all these three years and have not done anything meaningful with his life.”

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom also deported five Ghanaians including students for overstaying their entry permit.

Three out of the five who arrived in the company of some 63 security officials were issued overstaying certificates from British authorities, while the remaining two had Ghanaian passports.

“In all, a total of twenty-two (22) deportees have been received by the KIA Regional Command from UK and Germany.”

All 22 deportees were admitted into the country after going through the necessary arrival procedures.