Saudia Arabia begins processing 800 Ghanaians for deportation

Ghanas Embassy in Saudi Arabia is processing 800 illegal Ghanaian migrants to be deported following the expiration of an amnesty, granted illegal residents to leave or be sanctioned.

Foreign Affairs Minister for Ghana, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey says the government is cutting down the travelling cost of these individuals.

"The Riyadh Mission has already processed over 800 Ghanaians for departure. In order to discourage people from violating the amnesty and risking arrest, the Mission is making effort through social and electronic media to propagate the information in Ghana and Saudi Arabia".

According to her the International Organisation on Migration (IOM) is also committed to helping the deportees back home safely.

Addressing the Ghanaian parliament she revealed government's plans to set up a secretariat to deal with human trafficking issues.

Not long ago some Ghanaians died while trying to reach Europe through Libya on June 1. Amongst the deceased were also children. Some survivors told the Red Cross that the sad news occurred as a result of their truck breaking down in the Sahara Desert in northern Niger.

Reacting to this development, the foreign minister said " the Ghana Embassy has requested information from the relevant Nigerian authorities and the outcome will guide responses. Red Cross, which reported the incident and numbers, have also not notified the Embassy and the Ministry".

"The Ghana’s Red Cross office said the information it has on the issue is inconclusive, so the veracity of the information is yet to be established", she added

According to Pulse Ghana, some Ghanaians were deported recently from the US and were maltreated whilst on the flight. This made the Ghanaian foreign office summon the US Ambassador over the issue.

But the US diplomat denied they were handcuffed, starved and were not allowed to use the washroom.

The deportees are being sent home for various offences, ranging from drug possession, larceny, assault, theft, sexual assault, identity theft, illegal entry, forgery/fraud, resisting arrest and other non-criminal offences.