Ghana cancels Arrival Visa for Chinese nationals
The government of Ghana has cancelled Emergency Visa or Arrival Visa
for Chinese nationals as part of the fight against illegal Mining.
Emergency Visa Policy was introduced by the Ghana Immigration Service to cater
for visitors/business people who travel at short notice from countries
where Ghana has no mission or consulate.
The policy authorizes
visas to be granted on arrival at the airport or other entry points
subject to specific Immigration requirements. This policy has been
abused with many Chinese nationals taking advantage to come to Ghana to
engage in galamsey.
However, according to the Minister of
Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Kofi Dzamesi, this arrival Visa
privilege for Chinese have been cancelled.
“The Chinese nationals
come to the country to engage in galamsey, they defecate into our
rivers and pollute our river through illegal mining,” Mr. Dzamesi noted.
He continued: “But now, the Arrival Visa which the former government
granted the Chinese have been cancelled. So if you are a Chinese and
come to Ghana without Visa, you will go back to your China land.”
“After
all, when we go to China, they don’t give us arrival Visa so why should
we (country) give them arrival Visa, so, that arrival Visa has been
cancelled. Any Chinese who wants to come to Ghana should go to Beijing,
Ghana’s Embassy to apply for Visa so that we scrutinize why that person
wants to come to Ghana,” the minister said at a durbar organized for
chiefs in galamsey-proned areas at Kwahu Mpraeso Traditional Council in
the Eastern Region.
He said government is bent on fighting
galamsey or illegal mining, adding a team of trained Navy officers will
also be dispatched to patrol on all the river bodies in the country.
According
to him, priority will be given to areas where illegal mining is rampant
when it comes to the implementation of the One District, One Factory
programme to create jobs for the youth.
He noted the youth, especially those in illegal mining will be trained to use the right mechanisms in mining.
Source: Starrfmonline.com
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