Murtala Mohammed, Ghana’s deputy information minister has told Ghanaians to treat news of having to pay £3,000 to visit the UK as a guarantee for their return as a rumour.
He added that this controversial issue was also not a subject of discussion during last week’s bilateral talks between Britain’s David Cameron and Ghana’s John Mahama, during the latter’s visit to the UK.
According to Home Secretary Theresa May’s announcement on Monday, the intention is to make the immigration system more ‘selective’ and deter people from ‘overstaying’ once their visitor visa has expired. The scheme will be piloted from November, for people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Ghana.
But speaking on Joy FM in Ghana on Tuesday, Mr Mohammed said the UK government has not officially communicated this “policy”’ to the Ghana government. In the absence of any official communication, government considered it inappropriate to issue a response or seek clarification from the UK Embassy. He said even the UK had not taken any firm decision on the policy. “We might as well treat it as a rumour,” he suggested.
The minister said he was surprised at the reactions of some Members of Parliament on the matter, without first checking with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Earlier, Member of Parliament for Tarkwa Nsuaem, Eugenia Kusi demanded that UK residents must be treated the same way when they want to visit Ghana. MP for Manhyia South, Dr. Mathew Opoku-Prempeh pushed for a formal statement to be read on the floor of the House to signal Ghana’s unhappiness with the new policy.
