Heads roll at Immigration

The appointment of some top personnel of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) have been terminated with immediate effect, Daily Guide has learnt.

The action is suspected to have been informed by the alleged complicity between some top GIS personnel and Chinese illegal miners.

Ms Veronica Addey, the acting Deputy Director in charge of Finance and Administration who upon her attainment of the 60 years retirement age was given a two-year contract, has had the contract terminated in the action.

Also ordered to go home is the gentleman in charge of the Legal Department of the GIS, Kwame Takyi, who is yet to hit the retirement age.

Replacing them are two other immigration officers, the Deputy Director of Finance and Administration, Judith Dzokoto and her counterpart, Baaba Asare, who now heads the Legal Department.

Felix Sarpong is the new Deputy Director in-charge of operations of the GIS.

Ms. Dzokoto until her elevations was an Assistant Director in charge of Work Permits and Ms Asare, the Greater Accra Regional Commander.

The newly appointed Deputy Director in charge of operations, Felix Sarpong replaces Daniel Taabazuing, a former Deputy Director of Operations who is on retirement. He was also the Assistant Director in charge of the Kotoka International Airport.

Following nasty incidents arising from the illegal activities of mostly Chinese nationals in gold-bearing areas of the country, fingers were pointed at complicity between the culprits and some top officials of the GIS.

It would be recalled that, Inusah Fuseini Minister of Lands and Natural Resources and Head of the Ministerial Task-force set up in response to the mounting illegal mining activities and their attendant repercussions in the heat of the illegal mining activities otherwise called ‘galamsy’ remarked “there is clear complicity between certain officials of the Immigration Service and the presence of Chinese illegal miners in Ghana.”

The Minister went beyond the remark to demand of the Director of the GIS to as he put it “clean his house or have it cleared for him.”

There was no disputing it at this stage that something was going to happen in the top hierarchy of the GIS especially against the backdrop of a flurry of representations and finger-pointing.

One of the affected superior officers was particularity mentioned in a petition sent to the Ministerial Task-force dealing with the nagging subject of illegal mining for conniving with some Chinese nationals in perpetuating the illegality.

Some Chinese nationals have fired at indigenous residents in their areas operations in the past months creating security challenges for the police and the GIS.

The GIS has in recent times acted tough by repatriating Chinese with dubious documents upon their arrival at the Kotoka international Airport,which operations made screaming headlines in newspapers.

The Head of PR in the GIS, Mr. Francis Palmedeti ACOI could not be reached to comment on the subject.