Accra, Aug. 14, GNA – Mr Fred Duhoe, a Journalist with Citi TV, has been adjudged the first prize winner in Reporting Migration competition in West and Central Africa.
He received the first prize in the Radio and Television category alongside Justice Baidoo of Joy News and George Appiah as the three finalists.
He was presented with a cheque for USD 1,000, a plaque and a certificate.
The Reporting Migration competition was organised by the International Organisation for Migration- IOM branch under the United Nations in partnership with the European Union in Ghana.
Mr Duhoe’s winning report “Slipping through Ghana’s closed land borders” highlighted the struggles traders, residents of border communities and migrants go through using unauthorised routes through Ghana’s eastern border-Aflao border into Togo.
The report was filed at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic where Fred Duhoe assessed the land borders’ preparedness to combat any inflow of migrants in both Ghana and Togo despite the border closure as declared by Presidents of both countries.
The report established that the border closure caused the duplicity of illegal checkpoints mounted by plain-clothes men allegedly “extorting” money from migrants and traders under the supervision of some security personnel.
“The Illegal checkpoints allowed desperate migrants access through unapproved routes and along the beaches when they pay GH¢10,” the report said.
It also noted that market women were allowed to smuggle goods across the border from Togo into Ghana without paying the required taxes.
Ms Pooja Bhalla, Project Manager, International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Ghana, said the media played a key role in checking irregular migration, and needed to be honoured.
In the online and print category, Jamila Akweley Okertchiri, a reporter with Daily Guide newspaper, Jonathan Donkor with Ghanaian Times Corporation, and Zadok Kwame Gyesi with Graphic Online, won first, second and third prize awards respectively.
GNA