Immigration Service hit by massive shake-up, 59 top officers reshuffled

The Ghana Immigration Service has announced a massive shake-up in its top senior officers in a move to reinforce its capacity to secure the borders against illegal entry and prevent the importation of the novel Coronavirus into the country.

The changes, which take immediate effect from June 18, has led to the rotation of six top Immigration Officers and 53 other Senior Officers at the National Headquarters (NHQ), Regional and Sector Commands.

Head of Management Information Systems Department (MISD), Deputy Commissioner of Immigration (DCOI) Eric Afari, now moves to head Bono Region as the Regional Commander.

The Ashanti Regional Commander, Assistant Commission of Immigration (ACI) Michael Kwadade has been moved to the Operations Department at the national headquarters, and the Regional Commander of Upper West, ACI Peter Yao Nkrumah reassigned to the North East as the Regional Commander.

Head of Human Resource Department, Assistant Commission of Immigration (ACI) Kojo Oppong Yeboah goes to head the Tema Region as the Regional Commander whiles the Tema Regional Commander, ACI Adwoa Sika Anim takes over as the Head of Human Resource Department with the Bono Regional Commander, ACI Charles Bediako, going to the Ashanti Region as the Regional Commander.

The changes mark the Comptroller-General of Immigration’s second major reshuffle since the year 2018 as it also seeks to strengthen its operations in enforcing laws relating to the immigration and employment of non-Ghanaians in the country.

With the exception of Chief Superintendent of Immigration (CSI) William Andoh who hitherto was the Regional Commander for the North East and now the Upper West Regional Commander, the remaining nine Chief Superintendents of Immigration have been reassigned as Second-In-Command to some of the Regional Commands, Officer-In-Charge (OIC) of some Sector Commands and other entry points.

Also, twenty-two Superintendents of Immigration (SI) have been transferred to serve at the Districts Commands and minor entry points as well as permits and processing sections at national headquarters while seven of them have been reassigned to the Operations Departments the national headquarters.

The ranks of other senior officers reshuffled include seven Deputy Superintendents of Immigration (DSI) and seven Assistant Superintendents of Immigration (ASI).