Only a few months after the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) conducted a high-profile deportation exercise to clear Accra of undocumented beggars, the same individuals, mostly foreign nationals from Niger and Nigeria, have resurfaced on the streets in large numbers.
They are back at major locations including Obetsebi Lamptey, Circle, Lapaz and 37 Station, with children as young as one year old seen dashing dangerously across busy roads to beg.
Their return has sparked public frustration and renewed concerns about the porousness of Ghana’s borders, the waste of government resources on repeated deportations and the humanitarian crisis of child exploitation.
The situation raises tough questions: how are these individuals able to re-enter the country so easily and why does Ghana’s border security seem powerless to stop them?
The reappearance of undocumented beggars on Accra’s streets, only months after a heavily publicised deportation exercise, is more than just a nuisance, it is an indictment of Ghana’s border management, immigration enforcement and overall national security.
What was celebrated as a bold step toward restoring sanity to the capital has been revealed as a costly charade, exposing the futility of a policy built on half-measures and temporary fixes.
Deportation is not cheap. From the logistics of arresting undocumented migrants to the cost of feeding them in holding facilities, to securing transport and flights for their repatriation, government spends huge sums of taxpayer money on these operations.
Yet, here we are again, facing the same individuals in the same locations. This makes the exercise not only ineffective but wasteful. At a time when our Economy is on its way to full stabilization, spending millions on deportations that achieve no lasting results is nothing short of reckless.
Then there is the question of how these individuals are able to return so easily. Ghana is a member of ECOWAS, which allows for free movement of persons, but that does not mean our borders should be wide open.
The ease with which deported beggars re-enter Ghana raises disturbing questions: What are our immigration officers doing at the borders? Are they under-resourced, over-stretched or compromised? Whatever the answer, the current state of affairs is unacceptable.
This porousness is not just about beggars it is a national security threat. If undocumented migrants can walk in and out of Ghana with such ease, what prevents armed groups or terrorists from doing the same?
West Africa has in recent years faced a surge in extremist activity, with violent groups destabilising countries like Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. If Ghana’s borders are so fragile that deported beggars can stroll back in within months, then we must accept the frightening reality that terrorists could also exploit these same weaknesses. The government owes citizens assurance that our borders are not gateways for danger and that assurance is woefully lacking today.
Ghana’s political and economic stability has ironically made it a magnet for migration from neighbouring countries wracked by poverty, political upheaval and insecurity. While this reflects positively on Ghana’s relative stability, it also means we must strengthen our systems to manage the influx responsibly. Now that our economy is beginning to recover, government must not ignore this challenge. The stability we enjoy will quickly erode if Accra’s streets remain overrun by undocumented beggars and our borders remain defenceless.
So, what must be done? First, the government must conduct an independent investigation into border security operations. If loopholes exist, they must be sealed. If officers are negligent or corrupt, they must be punished.
Second, deportations should no longer be stand-alone exercises. They must be paired with bilateral agreements that ensure migrants are properly reintegrated in their home countries, rather than simply making a U-turn back to Ghana.
Third, a child-centered approach is necessary. Agencies such as the Ministry of Gender and Social Protection, working with international partners, must intervene to rescue children from exploitation and dismantle the trafficking networks behind street begging.
The return of undocumented beggars is not just a failure of immigration it is a failure of governance. The time to act is now.
