AMA: GIS exceeds revenue target

Immigration personnel

The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has exceeded its revenue target by a record breaking  GHs 12,393,097.50 as against GHs 10,990,000 set for the year 2011. The amount, according to officials of the GIS was recorded at the end of October.

The Director of Immigration Service (DIS), DCOP Dr. Peter A. Wiredu made this known at a two-day conference organized for Regional and some selected Sector and Unit Commanders of the GIS in Accra.

With barely two weeks to close the year, the GIS said it expects to generate more revenue to far exceed its target for the beginning of the year.

DCOP Dr. Wiredu, therefore, urged staff of GIS not to be complacent with what has been achieved so far, but rather work hard to generate more revenue for the State.

During the year under review, DCOP Dr. Wiredu added that the GIS chalked operational successes in the arrest and repatriation of foreign nationals whose modus operandi were infringing on the rules and regulations of the land.

The GIS, DCOP Dr. Wiredu revealed that as at of Monday, this week, the service had arrested 31 foreigners working without authorization in the country, as well as over 70 Chinese illegal miners in the Western Region.

The GIS also busted a syndicate that was involved in the production of fake Ghana Visa stickers, arrested eight Sri Lanka nationals and two Bangladeshis, for attempting to transit through Ghana to South Africa with fake travelling documents, as well as the arrest of 26 illegal South Africa miners employed at Tarkwa.

That notwithstanding, the service also arrested 42 people who were referred from various Embassies and High Commissions in the country for the possession of fake travelling documents, while additional 75 suspects were also arrested at the Accra International Airport for attempting to travel on spurious travelling documents.

GIS pointed out that a total of 158 people of various nationalities were deported and repatriated from the country from January 2011 to date.  About 98 hotels, guest houses, dwelling places and schools were monitored for purposes of checking on illegal residents in the country.

“We did this monitoring exercise in order to ensure that foreigners in our country comply with the laws and regulations of the land,” DCOP Wiredu observed.

To beef up its monitoring capabilities, the Service according DCOP Wiredu has installed CCTV cameras at its headquarters and connected the country’s entry points at Aflao and Elubo post to its central network system to capture relevant biometric data on the entry and exit of travelers on the country’s borders.

The Service also recently took delivery of nine vehicles (four Nissan Patrols and five Mitsubishi pickups) in additional to five motor bicycles for use as command and operational vehicles.

The Chronicle