People with bleached skin and stretch marks among disqualified immigration applicants

The Ghanaian Immigration Service (GIS) has defended its reason to disqualified candidates with bleached skin and stretch marks from its recruitment exercise. About 84,000 job seekers applied for to join the Ghana Immigration Service out of which only 500 will be recruited.

Among those disqualified were people with bleached skin and stretch marks.Those with tattoos, dreadlocks and "bow legs" were also disqualified from the exercise.

Skin bleaching continues to be an unpleasant issue in Ghana as it is said to have a dire health implication.

The Ghana Food and Drugs Authority of Ghana in 2017, issued a ban on the importation of all products which contain the skin-lightening chemical hydroquinone.

Some Ghanaians condemned the bar as sexist and unfair but GIS spokesman Supt. Michael Amoako-Atta has this was because people with such marks might bleed during the "strenuous" training.

"The kind of work we do, it's strenuous and the training is such that if you have bleached skin or surgical marks on your body during training exercises, you may incur some bleedings," Superintendent Michael Amoako-Attah, told BBC Pidgin.

Candidates must undergo a medical and a full body check as part of the GIS recruitment process.

The ban on stretch marks has aroused a widespread condemnation and anger on social media as others have called for legal action against the GIS.



This is the latest controversy surrounding the GIS recruitment exercise. Ghanaians also reacted angrily when the agency revealed it was only recruiting 500 people after some 84,000 people had paid 50 cedis ($11; £8) each for an application form.

Member of Parliament for Keta and Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament’s Committee on Employment, Richard Quashigah, has urged rejected applicants to take the GIS to court to recover the application fee.