Ghana’s borders to the north are safe—Immigration Service

The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) on Monday assured the public that it has secured borders in the northern frontiers to ward off any form of security threats.

Assistant Inspector of Immigration, Mr Christian Kobla Kekeli Zilevu, the Northern Regional Public Relations Officer, GIS, who gave the assurance, said the Service had no concrete evidence of any incident that could mar the safety at the northern frontiers as suggested by some publications.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Tamale following the United States (US) Embassy’s caution to its citizens against visiting the northern borders for fear of being kidnapped, Mr Zilevu said the communique should be treated as a normal security alert from the US to its citizens.

The Embassy, in Accra, on March 9, sent a security alert to US citizens on the grounds of ‘unsubstantiated’ information that they might be targeted for kidnapping for ransom in northern Ghana.

The Embassy further alerted them to exercise caution when visiting the Northern, Upper West and Upper East border areas.

Mr Zilevu, however, said there was no cause for alarm at the borders as the Immigration personnel had been on guard with surveillance on the ground to detect fishy moves against any citizen or foreigner.

“This is not the first time the US Embassy is cautioning US citizens. They do that as a signal of protection to alert them to be security conscious, but there is no such thing going on currently,” he said.

He appealed to members of the public to appropriately report suspicious individuals and groups that could endanger the country’s security, especially at the border towns, to the security services for prompt action.