Mr Ambrose Dery, Minister of the Interior, said the Government is determined to ensure that every citizen resident in Ghana is secured and safe.
To this end, the Government had put in place measures and strategies, including the empowerment of the security agencies with skills, and motivating them with the planning needed to deliver on their mandates.
Mr Dery said this during the handing over ceremony of two units of two-bedroom houses constructed by the State Housing Company for the Upper West Regional Command of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) to be used as residential accommodation in Wa.
He said the GIS was an important security organ as it served as the first line of contact and the first line of defence for anybody coming into the country.
There was therefore the need to build the capacity of its personnel through quality training and welfare motivation to make them more professional to help maintain peace and stability.
The Interior Minister announced that plans were far advanced to establish a new training centre at Tepa in the Brong Ahafo Region to train personnel of the GIS with the required skills to help make Ghana an attractive destination for foreigners, especially those from the neighbouring countries.
“We expect officers of GIS to be up and doing and make sure people who come into the country are not on the blacklist or have criminal records.
“We need to also encourage the community members, especially landlords, proprietors in businesses, hoteliers and residential providers to monitor when foreigners come into their communities and report all suspicious characters to the security agencies,” he said.
Mr Dery said he had received complaints from Travellers about the unnecessary delays on the roads from GIS personnel and appealed to them to understand the role that GIS was playing.
He said delays were necessary because the GIS was working to secure the security of the country rather than rushing over their work and allowing some elements to plunge the country into chaos and war situations.
The Interior Minister advised the GIS Staff to be more professional and explain to the Travellers what their job entailed, securing the security of the country.
