Ghana is due to accept 40 more West Africans deported from the US, the second batch to be sent to the country by the Donald Trump administration as part of its crackdown on illegal migration.
““I can reveal to you that we’re expecting another 40 in the next few days. We vet them before they come,” Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa told a local TV station on Wednesday.
President John Dramani Mahama last week said Ghana had agreed to welcome an unspecified number of deportees after Washington asked it to take in "third-party nationals."
His government insists the decision to accept the deportees is not an endorsement of President Trump's immigration policy, and the country is not receiving anything in return.
Parliamentary approval
Opposition lawmakers have accused the government of sidestepping parliamentary approval for the deportation agreement. But the government argues that the agreement is governed by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the US which does not require parliamentary ratification.
The foreign minister said Ghana’s decision was driven by humanitarian concerns after observing the harsh treatment of deportees abroad.
“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,” Ablakwa told Channel One TV.
“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 added.
