Ayorkor Botchey, Ghana's Minister of Foreign Affairs
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration says it is willing to evacuate Ghanaian citizens who are stranded outside, but at a cost that will be borne by the individuals.
To this end, Ghanaians in the United Kingdom had been asked to submit their details to the Ghana High Commission by close of Wednesday, May 13, 2020 (yesterday).
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, which issued the directive in a statement, suggested that it would facilitate their travel back to Ghana, only if they were prepared to cover their own expenses.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana is collating information on Ghanaians and Legal Permanent Residents who are stranded abroad as a result of the closure of international borders in containment of COVID-19 pandemic.
“To this end, eligible nationals who are prepared to pay for their cost of travel to Ghana must submit details specified below to the Ghana High Commission not later than close of day on Wednesday, 13th May 2020,” the release read.
Those who want to come back are to provide their names and copies of bio data page of their passports, their current locations, telephone contacts, email addresses, date of travel from Ghana, original date of expected return to Ghana, copies of their return tickets, reasons for inability to return to Ghana and confirmation of ability to pay for arranged air travel.
United States of America
Ghana’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations and the Consulate in New York recently began collecting data of Ghanaians stranded in the United States.
The exercise was expected to capture residents in the tri-state of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Information Officer at Ghana’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Frederick Kofi Ameyaw, has explained to the media that the data is to help government plan a possible evacuation of persons left stranded due to the current closure of the country’s borders as a measure to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country.
Minority call
The Minority in Parliament had called on the government to evacuate Ghanaian citizens stranded in other countries due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Both the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) have made provisions for their citizens in Ghana to be evacuated since the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus in Ghana.
The US has so far evacuated over 1,400 American citizens and permanent residents of the US.
