Analysis of the issue of migration by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) as captured in the 2021 Population and Housing Census has shown that 9,240,000 people, constituting 28.5 per cent of the country’s 30.8 million population, are migrants.(See story on page 12)
Migrants here refer to people who have moved from their usual places of residence to live somewhere else.
Thus, the migrants are both Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians.
This should clear any confusion regarding the subject of migration under discussion here.
The report divides the country into two – the northern and the southern sectors.
The northern sector includes such regions as Upper East, Upper West, Northern and Savanna, whereas the southern sector includes Ahafo, Ashanti, Bono East, Central, Eastern, Greater Accra, Western, and Western North.
The analysis shows that more people from the northern sector migrate to the south than those it receives.
The non-Ghanaian migrants are said to mostly come from Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria and Togo.
One thing worthy of note is that the non-Ghanaian migrants captured in the 2021 Census stands at 294,341, compared with 398,585 in 2010, a difference of 104,244.
Naturally, it is expected the number would increase after 11 years, but the unexpected has rather happened.
Can GSS give reason(s)?
It is important to note that both males and females are migrating and even more females (4,851,000, constituting 52.5 per cent) than males (4,389,000 constituting 47.5 per cent).
In spite of where they are coming from, migrants move in the hope of gaining employment, meeting life partners and reuniting with family members among other reasons.
In the face of this fact, we can conclude that both males and females equally seek good life and probably want to be at par, which has its own implications which the government must not gloss over.
Over the years, women had accepted a life of dependence on men but have now risen out of their slumber, which means structures must be put in place to give them the needed opportunities to realise their potential.
This aside, considering the fact that more people are migrating from the north to the south means in a way that the development differential in the country must be addressed to make more people want to live, at least, in their home regions.
This would help reduce the pressure on Greater Accra, Ashanti and Western regions, which receive most of the migrants.
It is well known that when many people live in places where they lack most of their expectations like employment and accommodation, social vices grow there.
It is, therefore, not unexpected that most of the crime cases in the country are commonplace in certain regions.
The case of non-Ghanaian migrants is also important to look at.
It is good to hear that most of these people come in to render services but some veer into areas like black marketing involving exchange of currencies and other underground dealings, while a good number of them are involved in crime.
What do the country’s laws say about these people, particularly the bad lots among them?
Every country needs migration to enhance its development but Ghana must see it as an urgent need to fix the associated vices for some sanity to prevail.
