BEREKUM : Returnees vent spleen on registration officials

Nadmo

The news that the government is initiating program of integration for the Libyan migrants in order to properly integrate them into society was greeted with enthusiasm and was given a high patronage in all regions where the exercise took place.

However, the share numbers of purported migrants who throng the Berekum municipal Assembly offices was too over whelming that the officials became suspicious of applicants that the officials subjected them to detailed and intense scrutiny by the immigration committee thereby incurring the wrath of some of the so-called migrants.

Shockingly enough, some of the returnees felt short of giving answers to basic questions about the very country they claim to have visited.

For instance, a good number of them could not mention the capital of Libya and their places of residence though they claim to have lived there for years.

Reports have it that tempers flared when some the returnees were refused returnee status which would qualify them for financial assistance and job offers in some cases depending on once expertise.

The District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area Laud Oppong Stephen revealed that non returnees who are mostly local residents and Ivorian refugees maneuvered to cash in on the exercise thereby swelling the budget and numbers the assembly had planned for.

But the aggrieved returnees will not see eye to eye with the assembly and the immigration officials in charge of the registration process, insisting that they all be registered to benefit from the integration package. But the registration officials stood their grounds, insisting that the right thing be done.

This brought about tension of monumental magnitude at the Assembly premises prompting the DCE to appeal for calm for the process to proceed, urging the returnees to be cooperative and respond to the simple line of questions put to them by the officials.

He questioned the grounds on which one will claim to have travelled to a particular country, worked and lived there, and yet could not mention the capital and where they lived and in some cases the kind of work they did.

He gave the firm assurance that the right procedure will be adhered to so that no one exploits the well intended integration program so as to separate the grain from the chaff.      

Ghanadistricts.com/ Arojah Amadi.