Deputy Comptroller-General of Immigration for operations visits officers on counter-terrorism training

The Deputy Comptroller of Immigration (DCGI) in-charge of Command Post and Operations, Mr. Laud Kwesi Affrifah, has paid a visit to Officers undergoing counter-terrorism training in Huhunya in the Eastern Region.

The visit, under the directive of the Comptroller-General of Immigration, was to find out how the Officers were faring and to also boost their morale.

Mr. Affrifah was received, briefed and conducted round the Counter-Terrorism Enactment and Concentration Camp by the Commander, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Raymond Adofiem.

CSP Adofiem explained that the training programme had been tailored and simulated to meet the exigencies of the time and the happenings at the various entry points of the country.

“The settings we have here are somewhat similar to that of what we have at the borders,” he added. “Two days ago, the Officers underwent a simulated exercise on how to access and combat activities of terrorists and other cross border crimes at the Elubo, Paga and Aflao borders,” he noted.

He indicated that the Officers were fit and ready to tackle head-on crimes and its related activities. “They have been imbued with absolute discipline and if they should misbehave, it is not the men but it is the command,” he stressed.

In an interactions with the Officers at a durbar, Mr. Affrifah emphasized that the face of security in the country had changed, and that, it required a joint and collaborative efforts of all State Security institutions. “The concept is a joint security approach” he said.



He explained that with the joint security approach, the mandate of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) is not only to manage migration in the country but also contribute to national security.

According to him, the GIS would lead in patrolling the borders of Ghana with the support of the Ghana Police Service and Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority as well as the Military.

“Similarly, when it comes to internal control which is led by the Ghana Police Service, it will be supported by the Military and also the Ghana Immigration Service,” he added.



The DCGI further explained that the support and collaboration which was a part of a national border security strategy under the Security Governance Initiative (SGI) had the border security, cyber fraud and maritime components.

He noted that migrant crime in the country was on the ascendency, and lamented that, Ghana was on the verge of becoming a haven for foreign criminals.

He therefore called on the Officers not to leave any stone unturned, and urged them to eschew attitudes that had the tendency of negatively militating their work. “We must sit up and make our country safer,” he added.

The DCGI was accompanied by the Head of Border Management Department, Commissioner Isaac Owusu Mensah, Head of Border Patrol Unit (BPU), Chief Supt. Joshua Kreku, Deputy Head of Training, Chief Supt. Daniel Debrah, Head of Public Affairs, Supt. Michael Amoako-Atta and Supt. Esther Hogan of the BPU.

The purpose of this first ever training is to enhance the combat fitness, shooting skills, willpower and speed among others of Officers who would form the nucleus of the newly created Rapid Response Unit.