Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has disclosed that Ghana will, in the coming days, receive an additional 40 West African deportees from the United States.
His comments come after the Minority in Parliament criticised the government over its decision to accept 14 deportees from the US earlier this month, accusing officials of bypassing parliamentary approval.
Government, however, has explained that the arrangement with the US is guided by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which does not require parliamentary ratification.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s The Point of View with Bernard Avle on Wednesday, September 17, Ablakwa confirmed that the new batch of deportees would soon arrive.
“I can reveal to you that we’re expecting another 40 in the next few days. We vet them before they come,” he disclosed.
The Minister stressed that Ghana’s decision to host the deportees was based solely on humanitarian grounds. He added that Ghana took the decision after witnessing the inhumane treatment of deportees abroad.
“We didn’t agree to this because we agree with President Trump’s immigration policies. We’re not doing the US a favour. We’re doing our fellow Africans a favour; we’re offering them refuge, hope, and we want them to come back home and be comfortable.
“We solidarised with them when we saw those images, the arrests, the violation of their rights, and their being detained against their will.
“It’s as if nobody wants to take them. It was purely on a humanitarian basis; we did not take any financial benefits. We’re doing this because we want to continue to position Ghana as the Mecca for Africans,” he said.
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