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The Permanent Mission of Ghana to the UN and the Consulate in New York have begun compiling the bio-data of affected citizens in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
The government of Ghana extended its border closure to May 31, 2020 as part of measures to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.
The development has left many Ghanaians stranded abroad, especially in the US and China with no clear indication of a possible repatriation.
In a statement, however, Information Officer at Ghana’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Frederick Kofi Ameyaw, said 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.
“Government, as part of its responsibility to ensure the well being and welfare of every Ghanaian regardless of their geographical location, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has tasked some of the missions abroad to compile a list of Ghanaians who are stranded in their respective countries,” he told the CNR.
“What we are doing, the Ghana mission in abroad, we are asking them to give us information, their passport, their biodata and the city in which they find themselves so that we will be able to forward this information to the government. The response has been great. We have a lot of people contacting us to tell us what their situation is. We are hoping that by Tuesday we will have an appreciation of the numbers and then the government will then make a decision as to when and how these people will be evacuated,” he said.
This move follows a call by the Minority in Parliament for the government to evacuate Ghanaian citizens stranded in other countries due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Both the United Kingdom and the United States 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.
By Jonathan Ofori, Daily Mail GH
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