Transport business should be preserved for Ghanaians

The Chairman of the Crime Prevention Foundation, Alhaji Asoma Banda, has suggested that operations of transport business in the country be restricted to Ghanaians.

In a statement issued in Accra on Wednesday, Alhaji Banda said this was because he had noticed with concern that in recent times, most of the malpractices and criminal activities on the roads and in the urban areas were perpetrated by foreigners, who operated transport business in the country.

He said Ghana had been acclaimed the world-over as a peace- loving, stable and affectionate nation with warm-hearted people "and these unscrupulous foreigners must be stopped from doing anything that would jeopardise its reputation." The activities of these people, he said, would send wrong signals to investors and tourists.

He appealed to the IGP to mount a heavy checkpoint at the airport to thoroughly scrutinise all vehicles leaving and entering the airport areas in the night. He said the IGP should also give taxicabs special identity cards.

Alhaji Banda said reports reaching him indicate that a number of visitors arriving in the country by air are attacked, robbed and even shot at immediately they left the airport area.

They are chased and hunted by taxicabs with guns and other deadly implements. He appealed to the Ghana Immigration Service to educate nationals of ECOWAS countries on the rules and regulations of the ECOWAS protocol and indicate to them that they were not entitled to be engaged in any employment in Ghana unless they passed through the due legal process.

They must be forced to adhere strictly to procedures regarding job placements. Alhaji Banda said immigration officers should also follow up to the hotels constantly to verify the details on the visitors' disembarkment forms.

He also asked hotel operators to check the movement of foreigners who lodged in their hotels and make photocopies of their passports to facilitate monitoring of their movements and activities.