Ghana’s Immigration authorities say they have stepped up a system to monitor activities of foreign nationals to safeguard the security and interest of Ghanaians.

"While we create the enabling environment to attract foreigners into the country the interest of the average Ghanaian must be safeguarded such that he is not maltreated or at a disadvantage in terms of jobs in favour of foreigners," Director of Immigration, Nana Owusu Nsiah said.

Nana Nsiah, who is also a Deputy Commissioner of Police, said this at his maiden interaction with media practitioners to outline his vision for the service and streamline its operations to conform to international immigration standards.

He appealed to foreign employers to treat the local employees with dignity and accord them the necessary rights and respect, while employing the media to expose expatriates who maltreat Ghanaians.

He said particular attention would be concentrated on building the capacity of the enforcement units - the unit charged with carrying out inspections of work and other premises - to investigate breaches of immigration laws and misconduct of foreigners.

The Immigration Director explained that the unit would be restructured with personnel, its fleet of vehicle increased and regional offices established to make its impact felt nation wide.

In line with the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of people, a mechanism has been adopted to monitor and establish the numbers of foreigners, their residential address and what they do in the country.

Nana Nsiah acknowledged the presence of a large number of ECOWAS nationals and the suspicion that some of them might have been contributing to the high crime wave in the country.

The GIS was seeking the co-operation of the Ghana Hoteliers Association to comply with directives to submit the list of foreigners who lodge at their hotels. The Service has however, given the assurance that security and interest of foreigners would be protected and that they would not be unduly harassed. The programme to register all foreigners, which was aborted because of operational difficulties, would be revisited after intensive public education.