The growing number of foreign nationals in the Ashanti regional and the country at larger, and related fraudulent activities have forced the Ghana Immigration Service to push security up a notch, by setting up a document fraud office in Kumasi to tackle the fraudulent acquisition of documents.
According to the immigration service, there is the need for a thorough scrutiny of documents for authentication including passports and birth certificates in order to cut down on the menace.
Speaking at the commissioning of the office, Controller General of the Ghana Immigration Service Kwame Asuah Takyi said his office will combat the fraudulent acquisition of all documents related crimes.
“Combating fraud involves fraudulent acquisition of passports, visas, permits and other documents related crimes requires an integrated approach, that is the whole of government, non-government and societal approach. As controller general of the Ghana immigration service, one of my concerns has been to support the rule of law. As the service is equipping itself with the technical tools available and sufficient capacity, there also must be an integrated approach, especially between security agencies, non-security agencies and individuals in the society.”
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah on his part lauded the initiative, and expressed confidence that this will properly help resolve challenges associated with the operation of foreigners in the region.
Mr Osei-Mensah added that the is particularly crucial considering the ongoing developments such as the Kumasi International Airport and the Boankra Inland Port projects.
“Sooner or later we will be having an international airport in Kumasi, and we will have people flying directly from various countries across the world into Kumasi and the documentation aspect is of great significance. Again we have under construction the Boankra inland project which is likely to bring foreigners directly to Kumasi.”
“So the timely examination of documents to detect is of paramount importance and I bow my head to those who took the initiative to establish this office…Let me take this opportunity also to mention that it is going to make the work of the Regional Security Council a bit easier because sometimes some foreigners are arrested and sent to GIS office and the document will have to be taken to Accra, and we all know that this will take some time, but that will no more be the case,” he stated.
Suraya Alidu Malititi /adwoaadubianews.com
