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Make a good first impression on visitors – Interior Minister
tells CEPS
Paga (U.E/R), Sept 8, Ghanadot/GNA – Mr. Cletus Avoka, Minister
of Interior has asked Immigration and Custom Excise and
Preventive Service (CEPS) personnel to eschew negative
tendencies that would overshadow the well known Ghanaian
hospitality and mar the first impression tourists and Immigrants
get of the country.
He said unnecessary delays and harassment should not be done,
rather all officers at the border post should show
professionalism, integrity, and friendliness to foreigners
coming in or exiting the country.
Mr. Avoka said this when he met personnel of the Immigration
Service at Paga in the Upper East Region, as part of a week-long
duty tour of the region to acquaint himself with the work of
Departments and Agencies under the Ministry of Interior.
Mr. Avoka told the service personnel who work at the border
posts that since they were the first to meet all people entering
the country, they had the responsibility to create a good
impression so that visitors would be encouraged to stay for long
or visit the country several times and probably find reason to
invest. “There is competition for investors all over the world
and we have to put up a good image to attract them”, he added.
He however, asked the service personnel to be vigilant and to
look out for criminals or those who come into the country to
promote crime, and hand them over to the right authorities or
have them monitored.
The Interior Minister advised them to work closely with other
security personnel so that such collaboration would effectively
help identify and weed out undesirable elements in the society,
especially so with the upsurge of ‘419’ or Sakawa.
He cautioned them against becoming over-familiar with foreigners
whom they hardly knew; as such people under the guise of
friendship could take advantage and indulge in practices that
could embarrass the country.
Mr. Avoka assured the personnel that their working conditions
would be improved within the next three years.
Mr. Moses K. Gyamfi, Deputy Director of Immigration in Charge of
Operations, announced that the Paga border post, a major entry
point to the country linking Ghana and Burkina Faso, had been
selected among four others to benefit from the Joint-Border Post
Project sponsored by the World Bank.
Under the Project, both CEPS and Immigration Officers and their
counterparts from neighbouring Burkina Faso would work under one
roof to make travel procedure easier for people going out or
coming into the country.
He said the large complex building that was started for that
purpose had to be stopped due to land problems but that was
being rectified, and that a new site had been found for the
project.
He commended the Officers for their hard work, especially under
the border patrol unit (BPU) which had proved to be a success in
their operations.
Mr. Peter Defie, Upper East Regional Director of Immigration,
complained that they lacked communication equipment at all the
border posts saying that the radio they had for transmitting and
receiving information had broken down.
He appealed for working gear, uniforms, rain coats and boots for
the personnel who go on patrols in the bush.
He said their effective patrolling had led to the interception
of many fuel smugglers and two locally manufactured pistols with
six rounds of ammunition.
GNA
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