GIS denied weapons for border patrols
By Emmanuel Akli
Despite the enormous role it plays to ensure that our land borders are secured, and also prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country, the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) is said to be bedeviled with so many challenges, which is hampering its operations.
As a result of these challenges, The Chronicle gathered that most of the workers are not happy, but unable to go public with their grievances. Investigations revealed that whereas immigration officers in Burkina Fasso, Togo and Ivory Coast are allowed to carry weapons in their daily border patrol duties, immigration personnel in Ghana have been barred from doing so.
This is making their work rather difficult, because they are always at the mercy of armed smugglers along the country's land borders. A source, which spoke to The Chronicle, noted that when border guards were patrolling the borders some years back, they were fully armed, but now that crime is on ascendency, immigration officers have been barred from doing so.
The source argued that the military and the police have many weapons in their armoury, and that the government could ask them to hand over few of these weapons to the GIS to carry out their patrol duties without necessarily importing new weapons for them.
Some of the personnel who spoke to The Chronicle, on condition of anonymity, also noted that when the Minister for the Interior, Mr. William Kwasi Aboah, visited the police recently, he announced that a 50 million Euro credit facility had been secured to acquire logistics, including 1,110 pick-up trucks and saloon cars to bolster their operations.
The personnel regretted that though they were also part of the security agencies, nothing had been said about them, even though they are left with only 150 vehicles, most of which have broken down, to carry out their patrol duties.
The Chronicle was also told that apart from the above challenges, the personnel were also not happy that among all the security agencies – the Army, Police, Fire Service and Prisons Service – it is only the GIS that does not have a national headquarters of its own. The GIS, currently, shares its headquarters with the Veterans Association of Ghana (VAT).
This reporter gathered that as a result of this problem, the GIS has been compelled to rent offices in most parts of Accra at great cost to facility its work. The Service has a parcel of undeveloped land at the headquarters, which could be used to put up modern offices, but this reporter gathered that the idea had been shelved due to the cost involved. According to a source, the project would cost about GH¢30 million.