Ghanaians acquiring visas for Chinese to engage in galamsey – Minister reveals

Some Ghanaians acquired visas for most Chinese nationals to come into the country and engage in illegal mining activities in the country, a Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs has revealed.

Charles Owiredu disclosed that a report from the Ghana Immigration Service shows that, majority of Chinese nationals who are seen in the country was as a results of some local people leading them to acquire various visas.

Speaking on Hello Fm in Kumasi, Mr Owiredu said though the act of these Ghanaians cannot be considered as criminal, they abused the use of emergency visa acquisition.

“It’s been abused because they did not do the exact business they stated when applying for the visas”. He noted.

An emergency visa or On Arrival Visa is a visa issued to visitors on arrival to a country. In most instances, a person or citizen of the said country is supposed to apply for the visitor by given tangible reasons for it.

In acquiring such visas, one is supposed to indicate what exact business his visitor will undertake during his stay in the country.

However, Mr Charles Owiredu has criticized Ghanaians for acquiring visas for the Chinese nationals, saying “they came to destroy our natural resources”.

“Not only Chinese were engaging in the act, but other foreign national also took part”, he lamented.

When asked if Chinese Government grants emergency visas to Ghanaians, he said: “No, it’s never like that, without a visa you can’t go to China”.

He showed disapproval of the law which allows Chinese to request for such visas in the country indicating that Chinese are no more allowed to request for emergency visas. “They have to apply for visas in Beijing before entering the country.