A new office structure has been commissioned in Accra to house the Document Fraud and Expertise Centre (DFEC) of the Ghana Immigration Service.
The ultra- modern Training Centre, which was built and equipped with support from Federal Republic of Germany and situated in the Airport enclave, is expected to train personnel of the GIS and other relevant institutions such as the Ghana Police Service, Judiciary and Passport Office in document fraud detection.
Delivering the keynote address at the commissioning, Mr. Ambrose Dery, in a speech read on his behalf by the Deputy Minister for the Interior, Hon. Henry Quartey attested to the invaluable contribution of the Centre’s role in the fight against Transnational Organised Crimes such as Drug Trafficking, Money Laundering, Trafficking and Smuggling in persons etc.
He noted that recent developments across the West African sub-region on global security called for a well thought-out, innovative and proactive approach to migration management
“As you are all aware, some of our neighbouring countries are confronted with the threat of terror. However in the midst of these challenges and threats, I am of the view that effective border security which ensures good profiling and document fraud identification can reduce the threat of insecurity.” he said.
According to the Minister, the Ghana Immigration Service as a body has a very special and crucial role to play in securing the country’s borders, maintaining its territorial integrity and ensuring the economic well-being of the country.
He emphasized on the fact that, there was the need for concerted efforts to be made in the fight against trans-national crimes.
“Trans-national crimes mostly take place through the abuse of documents especially source and travel documents such as passports” he explained.
The Interior Minister said that, the training of personnel in document fraud identification was very important and should be enhanced.
He, therefore, stated that the Centre had come at the right time to augment the efforts of Government and that of the Service to improve the capacity of officers in Document Fraud Detection.
The Minister, on behalf of the Government of Republic of Ghana and the Ministry commended the Federal Republic of Germany for the kind gesture to the Ghana in general and the Ghana Immigration Service in particular.
Mr. Kwame Asuah Takyi, the Comptroller-General of Immigration, on his part admitted that the facility would boost the capacity of the Centre in conducting further training for all concerned.
According to him, activities of the DFEC have contributed greatly to the global fight against Terrorism, Money Laundering, Human Smuggling/Trafficking, Drug Trafficking and other Trans-national crimes.
He urged personnel at the DFEC to adhere to strict maintenance culture to ensure a long-life span of the facility.
H.E. Christoph Retzlaff, the German Ambassador to Ghana, said the inauguration was a very good example of partnership and cooperation between Ghana and Germany.
He said the dream to have the DFEC was natured in 2017 when he took office, and discussions on areas of mutual cooperation were held.
He noted that, Germany’s cooperation with the GIS was to strengthen the security structures in Ghana and the region of West Africa.
“We want to support you and cooperate with you in the field of training and capacity building to strengthen security at the borders,” he said, adding that “if your neighbour’s border is safe yours too is safe”.
The DFEC was established through the collaboration of the Government of Ghana and the European Union and was commissioned in 2010 to train agents in document fraud.
It also serves as a back office for all document fraud identification matters in the country and has strong working relationship with almost all the EU Embassies in Ghana and works closely with all their Immigration Liaison Officers and Police Attaches.
