www.ghanaweb.com: General News of Friday, 10 May 2002


Ghana Rejects German Offer On Illegal Immigrants
Ghana has rejected a proposal from the German state of Hamburg, which
requested the Kufuor administration to allow the repatriation of some
illegal African immigrants to Ghana. The Germans offered to pay 8,000 Euros
to the government for each immigrant Ghana takes in, regardless of their
nationality. The Foreign Ministry has rejected the offer on the basis that
it is unworkable. A spokesman for the state government who made the proposal
public had hoped that the first deal could be signed this year.

A high-ranking official at Ghana's Foreign Ministry said that Ghana will
never sign such a deal to accept illegal African immigrants from any part of
Europe on its soil. "If the German state with all its wealth cannot take
care of a few illegal immigrants, how can Ghana with its meager resources
cater for them," the official asked.

Basically, the Ghanaian government has made it clear that only its citizens
who are deported will be taken in. But the government's argument seems
weak[SAYS WHO? -- MARTIN] since a  large number  of illegal immigrants in
Germany claim to be Ghanaians even though they are unable to speak any
Ghanaian language. [WHAT LOGIC! WHY SHOULD GHANA ALLOW A RACIST GERMAN TO
SET THE AGENDA?]

The German idea for illegal African immigrants to be sent back to the
continent is the brain child of Ronald Schill, a former Judge who was swept
into office last year on a wave of fear and anti-immigrant sentiment set off
by the discovery that several of the September 11 hijackers lived in
Hamburg.

His newly found Law and order party won more than 20 per cent of the vote in
an election weeks after the attacks in the US. Mr. Schill, dubbed "Judge
Merciless" because of his stiff sentencing policies when he sat on the
bench, has the responsibility for justice and the police.

The plan is designed to tackle the problem of immigrants who enter Europe
without documentation, hide their country of origin and make deportation
impossible. If other African countries respond in the same way as Ghana has
done, the Germans might have to rethink a new strategy to dispose off
illegal immigrants.


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