The Ghana Immigration Service has revealed that last year, a total of 2,773 Ghanaians were sent back home from various countries for unlawful entry, among other infringements.

Deputy Superintendent of Immigration (DSI), Daniel Tagoe of the Fraud Unit made the disclosure at a day's workshop for journalists in Accra last week. It was organized by the Service to showcase its functional activities to the media and afford them the opportunity to interact with the service's management team.

Giving the breakdown, DSI Tagoe said 2,022 were deportees, 623 were returned for inadmissible reasons and 128 for being stowaways. He explained that the deportees were mostly those who were illegally residing in foreign countries and those who entered those countries illegally.

He said 80% of them were returned to Ghana because they did not have enough funds to finance their supposed duration of stay. He said people with insufficient or improper documents, were not allowed entry as well. The remaining 20% were removed from those countries for possession of fraudulent documents.

Every month, at least 20 people are also deported from Ghana for various reasons.

Director of Immigration Service, Ms Elizabeth Adjei announced that the Service would soon open what would be called the Immigration Information Bureau at its headquarters in Accra.

She said the bureau aims at bringing immigration services to the doorsteps of people, and would serve as a resource centre for both Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians.

Ms Adjei said Ghanaians traveling abroad can visit the centre to learn more about the country they intend to travel to, before embarking on the journey. Likewise, foreigners who want to visit Ghana would be educated on the situation in Ghana.

She said the office would be opened to Ghanaian returnees to know how well they can integrate into the society. Those in Diaspora could also assess it to know where exactly in the country developments are needed for them to channel their assistance to those areas.

She said the service currently has 1600 officers, an increase of 360 three years ago. She said by 2009 the number would increase to 5000. GIS last year generated ¢47 billion for the state, but Ms Adjei stated, "GIS is not a revenue generating institution".

She explained that the amount was realized as fines from overstayed visitors, illegal stays, working in the country without permit among other immigration offences. Controller of Immigration P.P.D Asima, second in command of operations, gave a general overview of the agency. He said it is the responsibility of GIS to control, regulate and among others to monitor the status and activities of foreigners in Ghana.

He said in executing its duties, it complements the effort of other state security agencies to combat crime in the country.

Mr. Asima noted that the country has become more attractive to foreigners, because it is more stable than a lot of its neighbours. Controller of Immigration (Operations), Laud A. Affrifah said there are 48 entry points into the country, including two seaports and one airport.

He said even though the borders are well guarded and more initiatives being taken to secure them, arms proliferation, upsurge in terrorism, illegal immigration and cross border robbery among others could cause threats to the security of the nation.