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GIS to set up health departments at border post

The Minister for the Interior, Mr Ambrose Dery, has called on the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) to set up a Department of Health, as part of its Border Management Department to empower the service to stop the “importation” of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and other infectious diseases into the country.

According to him, setting up such a department with health officers within the Border Management Department would save the country greatly from the current COVID-19 pandemic and other infectious diseases.

He said the department would help to prevent the importation of the infectious COVID-19 disease into the country through humans, plants and animals, adding that special training and structures to detect the disease at the borders of the country must be put in place.

Mr Dery was speaking at the opening ceremony of a three-day conference organised in Koforidua for Management and Regional Commanders of the GIS on the theme “Responding to the Evolving National Security Threats in the era of COVID-19.”

The conference which brought together Management and Regional Commanders was to enable the commanders to brainstorm, share ideas and experiences and come out with best strategies to ensure better migration management and security in the country.

The Minister for the Interior noted that considering the negative impact of the pandemic on economies across countries with its associated second and third wave causing havoc, COVID-19 was still a national security threat that needed to be continually dealt with.

He, therefore, called on the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) not to rest on their oars but to intensify their efforts and continually come up with innovative ways to ensure that the country remained secured from the COVID-19 pandemic and illegal immigrants.

He said even though the GIS had been noted for its immense efforts with regards to mass contact tracing and securing the boarders of the country, there was still more to be done to safeguard the country from COVID-19 which was still a threat to the country.

“I have noted that the GIS is already considering a restructuring of its operations, redesigning the regional organogram, a review of the status implementation of GIS strategic plan among others,”he said, adding that such strategies were needed to overcome the country’s current national security challenges.

He hoped that the strategies would reflect and institutionalise solutions to effectively and quickly resolve gaps and track performance efficiency.

For his part, the Comptroller General of the GIS, Mr Kwame AsuahTakyi said the conference was to enable them to come out with strategies to safeguard the country’s borders and deal with COVID-19.

He added that coming up with strategies and implementing them required concerted efforts by various actors and called on all management and regional commanders to bring on board their expertise to achieve the objectives of the conference.

MrTakyicalled on the government to see to the amendment of Immigration Service Act 908 and its Legislative Instruments to meet the pension needs of officers when they retired.

The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Seth Acheampong, appealed to the management of the GIS to consider and prioritise standard trainings for its officers at every level with the aim of improving the knowledge of the officers to ensure that they were able to deal with situations they were confronted with.

He commended them for the deployment of GIS officers into the districts, adding it would ensure monitoring of operations of foreign nationals.

He also appealed to them to expedite action on the processing of illegal immigrants for deportation “as their continuous stay, remains a burden on our scarce resources.”

Caption: Mr Ambrose Dery(fifth from right), Mr Kwame AsuahTakyi and other dignitaries with management and regional commanders

FROM AMA TEKYIWAA AMPADU AGYEMAN, KOFORIDUA

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