THE HON.DEPUTY MINISTER,
THE CHIEF DIRECTOR,
DIRECTOR OF IMMIGRATION,
DIRECTORS OF THE MINISTRY,
MANAGEMENT MEMBERS OF GHANA IMMIGRATION SERVICE,
OFFICERS and MEN OF THE GHANA IMMIGRATION SERVICE,
MEMBERS OF THE PRESS,
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

I deem it a great honor to meet with you today. You would acknowledge that since our assumption of Office, this is our maiden visit to the Ghana immigration Service HQ.
The purpose of this visit is to introduce ourselves to you, interact with management and staff, learn at first hand some of your concerns and together try to chart a path for the future of the Service.

The Ghana Immigration Service is a very important government agency with its strategic position as the first point of contact with the outside world. Government sees your role as immigration officers as very crucial to the development of the country.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, you will agree with me that one major challenge that globalization poses to Africa is the fact that nations find themselves competing with each other for investors and investment. Know that whatever picture the immigration officer presents to the outside world at the points of entry and exit goes a long way to inform our visitors of what awaits them and whether they should invest in Ghana or not.
My office has received complaints about the general attitude of Immigration Officers at the border points especially relating to impolite handling of visitors including extortion.  This is a mark of great indiscipline and officers should desist from these acts as the current administration would not condone and connive such malpractice.  Besides such attitude serves as disincentive to investors and tourists alike.
Members of the Directorate , officers and men , irrespective of the automation we boast of at the entry/exit points and all the well laid out structures and systems in the Ghana Immigration Service , if individual officers do not exhibit utmost professionalism and selflessness it will all amount to nothing, and thus we shall not reap from our investment.
Let me re-emphasis that you exist to serve your customers and not the other way round. You must be civil to all who come to you without compromising the security of the state. I encourage you all to be fair but firm in your service delivery. You have a duty to protect citizens including yourselves by performing the task assigned to you selflessly and professionally.
It is important for you as immigration officers to go the extra mile to ensure that while patrolling the national borders to prevent the entry of prohibited persons you endeavor, as much as possible, to facilitate the entry of investors, tourists and others who are coming in to do business in the country.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me remind you that this is a new era, a new political dispensation. As public servants you owe allegiance to the government in power. Whatever your political inclination or affiliation,  I charge you to ensure that such inclination or affiliation does not interfere with the discharge of your official duties.
I am aware that you as Immigration Officers face a number of challenges. You are faced with problems relating to logistics, residential and office accommodation. Personnel of the Border Patrol Unit are also faced with additional challenge of not wielding arms in the performance of their duties.
We are taking concrete steps to address these challenges and problems, notwithstanding above constraints, your performance is good and acknowledged through the successes chalked in terms of the arrests and repatriations of illegal immigrants and other operations and I wish to commend you for the good work done.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Ministry will want to reassure you of our continuous support and in exchange I require you to put in your maximum cooperation. Keep up the spirit and let’s together put our shoulders to the wheel in building a better Ghana for us all

Thank you and May the Good Lord bless you all.