Thirty-six granted Ghanaian citizenship

Accra, Feb. 9, GNA - Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of The Interior, on Friday presented certificates to 36 foreigners, who have been granted Ghanaian citizenship after registration and naturalization. They are made up of 22 Lebanese, 11 Indians, two Palestinians and a Syrian.

Mr Mahamadu Iddrisu, a Circuit Court Judge, administered the oath of allegiance to them at the Supreme Court in Accra.

Mr Kan-Dapaah said the conferment of Ghanaian citizenship on them as the nation celebrated its 50th anniversary of independence should be a memorable one that they should cherish.

He congratulated them for going through the long and tedious processes before attaining their citizenship saying: "The long and tedious processes were necessary for the Ministry to establish certain facts and to know about you that we could not have learnt from the application forms you submitted."

He said the process was to enable the Authorities to, among other things, establish whether or not they were of good character, legally and legitimately married to Ghanaians and whether they had not engaged in any criminal activity while residing in Ghana among other things. Mr Kan-Dapaah told them that they were now entitled to possess Ghanaian passports and could exercise their franchise in any future elections.

He urged them to continue to be loyal to the State and to support the Government and the entire citizenry.

"I urge you to continue to contribute to the economic and political advancement of the country and to promote the sustenance of peace at all times in the country."

Naana Ampratwum, Chief Director of the Ministry of The Interior, said some of the applicants had stayed in Ghana for more than 30 years. Mr Nazem Khaled Karroun on behalf of the recipients thanked the Government for granting them Ghanaian citizenship and pledged to continue to work for the nation's socio-economic development.