The Danish government, through the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), has presented a vehicle and IT equipment to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) to strengthen its capacity to combat irregular migration.

The items are a 4x4 Mitsubishi Pajero, 20 laptop computers, five desktop computers, five Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems, three forensic magnifiers, 320 magnifiers, a digital camera and two printers.

According to the Danish government, the presentation formed part of its ‘Strengthening Border and Migration Management in Ghana’ (SMMIG) project, to support the Government of Ghana (GoG) in strengthening her institutional and operational capacities to manage irregular migration flows.

The Minister for the Interior, Ambrose Dery, who received the items in Accra yesterday, said the support by the Danish government was an example of practical cooperation that existed between the governments of Denmark and Ghana.

He noted that securing the border and effectively managing migration was extremely important for the country and that the presentation would support the GoG’s efforts in that regard.

“Internal peace, public safety and security and social stability are necessary components for development”, he added.

The Minister, on behalf of GoG, thanked the Danish government for the kind support and indicated that the support would help advance the mission of the GIS through the implementation of the SMMIG project.

The Deputy Head of Mission in charge of Cooperation, Birgit La Cour Madsen, commended the GIS and the implementing agency, ICMPD, for making the ceremony possible in spite of the pandemic.

She said that the SMMIG project, which was scheduled to end in November this year, has been extended to the next 12 months.

This, she said, has also allowed some amendments to the project to include the provision of personal protective equipment (PPEs) and the capacity building of 300 personnel of the GIS to manage travellers with any health-related issue.

“This will not only help manage the current pandemic at the frontiers when borders are eventually re-opened, but also strengthen the capacity of GIS to manage similar situation in the future”, she added.

The Deputy Head of Mission urged Ghanaians not to only make the continuous and collective effort to fight and eradicate COVID-19 but to also ensure that the 2020 elections were conducted in the spirit of fairness and peace, which, she said, has become the hallmark of the Ghanaian democracy.

She assured the GoG of the continuous support of the Danish government, adding: “A well-trained immigration officer specialised in document fraud detection would require magnifiers and IT equipment”.

On his part, the Comptroller-General of Immigration (CGI), Mr Kwame Asuah Takyi, expressed gratitude to the Danish government for the support and assured them that the items would be put to good use to fight irregular migration.

He noted that the project has so far helped in strengthening the capacity of personnel of the service in the areas of intelligence gathering, information exchange and document inspection.