By Ewoenam Kpodo
Akanu (VR), Oct 27, GNA – Assistant Commissioner of Immigration (ACI), Mr Felix Agyeman-Bosompem, Akanu Sector Commander of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), has called for cooperation between border residents and the officials of Immigration at the frontier.
He said the residents were key to managing land borders, especially in this era of the emergence and risk of security issues, including violent extremism and cross-border crimes.
ACI Felix Agyeman-Bosompem said these during a day’s training on immigration processes for women at Akanu, Ketu North.
It was dubbed the National Cross Border Women Traders Association (NCBWTA), a cross-border women traders empowerment group.
The training dubbed “Know Your Rights and Responsibilities,” organised in partnership with the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
Participants, who were women traders within the five kilometre range of the joint Ghana-Togo border, the Akanu Border (from Akanu to Dzodze-Penyi) through topics like the “Rights of a Cross Border Woman Resident Trader.”
The rest included the responsibility of a cross border woman resident trader, duties of GIS in protecting rights of cross border women resident traders and, safety, health and security of cross border women resident traders.
The day also saw women raise issues against border officials which included verbal abuse, extortion and impeding mobility across the border for informal and small-scale cross-border trade to support their livelihoods.
ACI Felix Agyeman-Bosompem appealed to border residents to always carry their identity documents for easy mobility across the border, explaining that though officers through profiling could identify border residents, there was the possibility of encountering entirely new officers due to transfers, which could hinder an easy movement.
The Sector Commander assured that their presence at the border was not to frustrate border residents but to secure the nation’s frontiers from undesirable migrants, thus, the need for border residents to cooperate and help them carry out their mandate.
Some participants who spoke to Ghana News Agency were happy for the education which they said was helpful and would enable them to make unhindered border crossings.
Madam Happy Agbleke, a participant, said they mostly found it difficult in crossing the border and with the education they got on their rights as border residents, they expected easy crossings henceforth.
“What we need to do now to is to comply and cooperate with them because as cross-border women resident traders, we only don’t have rights, but we also have responsibilities.”
Mr Oscar Akaba, Coordinator for NCBWTA, said the Association which had about 150 registered members began with the women at the Akanu Border and that it would in the future, expand to cover border women residents in the Volta Region and across Ghana.
He said the Association aimed at championing the cause of cross border women (who usually trade goods based on local market demand) through providing them the platform to engage with key stakeholders towards removing barriers in the sector, was working to get other border management officials for similar engagement.
Mr Akaba underscored the initiative, saying the female-intensive sector had poverty and development implications as it constituted a crucial source of employment and livelihood support for the low-income and low-skilled border women traders.
GNA