Former president Jon Dramani Mahama has tasked immigration officials along Ghana’s western border to recognize the Ghana Card as a travel document.
He says complaints of extortion by native Ghanaians, who happen to live in Ivory Coast, were not right especially so for those who show their Ghana Cards yet are denied entry till they are forced to pay bribes.
Mahama, who is on his Building Ghana Tour said immigration officials have themselves admitted to the validity issues with the Ghana Card.
He reiterated that to the extent that the card can be used for air travel as claimed by vice president Mahamudu Bawumia, it was worrying that its use even across land was being rejected by government officials.
“Bawumia says you could even travel with the Ghana Card outside the country, this is just across the border, just across a river, yet people are being extorted,” Mahama told a gathering during his visit to the Jomoro constituency in the Western Region.
“We are being told if you show your Ghana Card, the Ghana Card is said to not be valid. I wish to draw the attention of immigration officials that the Ghana Card is a travel document and must be respected as such,” he said to applause.
Vice President Bawumia as part of his digitalization agenda has become the face of the Ghana Card roll out, stressing the importance of integrating the card with others like the Voters ID, Driver’s License and SSNIT cards.
Mahama and Bawumia will go head-to-head in the 2024 presidential elections as Mahama leads the National Democratic Congress and Bawumia, the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
I thought @MBawumia said we can travel with Ghana card? Why is the immigration preventing Ghanaians from crossing in border towns and extorting money from them? – John Mahama. #3NewsGH pic.twitter.com/apADFH140s
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) December 16, 2023
Source: ghanaweb.com
