The Minister of Interior, Ambrose Dery has said that commissioning of the renovated Hamile office of the Ghana Immigration Service is in line with the government’s effort in ensuring that the borders of the country are strengthened.
Addressing a gathering the commissioning ceremony, the minister noted that the project is one of many that has been funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and added that it was aimed at strengthening the country’s border security and border community resilience in the Gulf of Guinea.
He further pointed out that it was also to improve regional stability along the northern border regions of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo.
Commending the German Federal Foreign Office and the International Organization for Migration, the minister remarked that the country was grateful for their commitment in ensuring that the project was started and completed.
According to him, the mission of the Government, in this respect is to encourage development that will improve the quality of life of the people in the context of regular Migration. “Accordingly, this project, would contribute significantly to the fulfillment of this mission. No government works in isolation. It takes partnerships and support from other governments and institutions to achieve greater heights in development,” he remarked.
Hon. Dery mentioned that the Government fully appreciate that it cannot effectively manage migration unless the national and institutional capacities and infrastructure are strengthened and added that it is the reason the International Organization for Migration is committed to ensuring that the Ghana Immigration Service, and in particular the Hamile and the Kulungugu border posts, are primary beneficiaries of such projects.
He of confident that the work carried out on the projects will contribute greatly to the benefit of the Ghana Immigration Service, the community members of the selected border posts, and other border management institutions.
“I believe the time has come to increase collaboration to meet the challenges confronting border management agencies, and following similar projects and support to the Governments of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and Togo, we are indeed forging ahead in improving regional border stability in the Gulf of Guinea,” he stated and added that he has no doubt that the Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS) will provide the State with the capacity to collect, process, analyse and share traveler information as well as support the digitization of migration data to improve traveler facilitation and control,” he commented.
Continuing he pointed out that the installation of the system is timely especially at a time that Government is championing the Digital Ghana Agenda which seeks to digitize Government services, build a biometric National Identity register, deploy a digital property addressing system, mobile money interoperability and institutionalize paperless port operations among others.
The Government, he said is indeed developing a robust framework to support the digitization of the economy in a manner that captures and benefits everyone and continued that the success of this initiative is proof of the power of collaboration in fostering development, which is why the country continue to encourage partnerships of this nature, especially with the International Organizations and the private sector to spur investment in migration management.
Concluding he said it is important to note that Ghana is very fortunate to have reliable partners like the International Organization for Migration which is ever willing to support the implementation of the strategic outlook for Immigration and Border Management (IBM).
“At the level of government, we are committed to doing everything possible to help the Ghana Immigration Service realize its true potential and make good it’s mandate. We intend to provide the resources required to make it work,” he concluded.
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