Minister charges GIS personnel to be alert at borders

Assin-Fosu (C/R), Jan 10, GNA - Mr Cletus Avoka, Minister of the Interior, on Saturday charged the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) personnel to be alert and effectively secure the country's borders.

He said with the integration of world economies, people with diverse objectives and intentions were criss-crossing the world in the name of investment but were committing acts which were detrimental to the development of host nations.

Mr Avoka said this demanded that the personnel of the GIS lived up their task by identifying, preventing and apprehending miscreants possessing fraudulent travelling documents, engaged in human trafficking, smuggling, drug and small arms trafficking and other cross border crimes to ensure the territorial integrity of the nation.

The Minister said this when he delivered the keynote address at the passing-out parade of the 1st and 17th intake of the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN) of Liberia and the GIS recruits, at the GIS Training School at Assin-Fosu in the Assin North Municipality of the Central Region.

The training of the recruits, made up of 90 Ghanaians and 50 Liberians, was the first phase of a two-year United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) sponsored project to build the capacities and competencies of 150 personnel of the BIN to support the implementation of the peace process in Liberia.

The inclusion of their Ghanaian counterparts was in line with the objectives of the project to ensure cross-fertilization of culture between the two countries.

Personnel of the GIS and the Ministry of Justice of the Netherlands were training the recruits.

Mr Avoka said migration had assumed a multilateral dimension with social, cultural, economic, emotional and political consequences, requiring effective security at key government installations such as sea, ports, airports and the entire land frontiers.

He charged GIS personnel to enforce the country's laws in this discharge of their work the Minister.

Mr Avoka said "It is imperative that you demonstrate discipline, humility and selflessness to all manner of people you interact with. You must again demonstrate dedication, commit and devotion to your work and above all loyalty to your countries" he said.

He congratulated the recruits for passing out successfully adding that the training enhanced the image of the BIN, GIS and the West African sub-region.

Mr Avoka asked the recruits to consider deployment to the various posts and stations as a special call to duty for which the national interest should always override their personal interest.

Mrs Christiana Tah, Minister for Justic and Attorney General of Liberia, said the deployment of the new recruits to the BIN would transform the security sector of that country.

She thanked the governments of Ghana and Netherlands for facilitating the training.

UNMIL, sponsors of the project and the Government of Netherlands, co-partner also presented solidarity messages at the ceremony.

Present were Mr Apea Kubi, Deputy Minister of the Interior, Ms Elizabeth Adjei, Director of the GIS, Mr Bert Van Hoon, Project Manager and Director, Centre for Knowledge Advice and Development of the Netherlands and officials of the GIS.

Mr Edward Massaquoi, a Liberian recruit, was adjudged the overall best recruit.

GNA