…As 817 Ghanaians renounce citizenship

Ghanaian Ministry of interior has disclosed that about 817 Ghanaians have renounced their citizenship last year just as 39 foreigners applied for naturalization.

This was revealed by the Minister of Interior, Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi at the monthly “Meet the Press Series” in Accra.

A breakdown of the figure showed that 538 sought German citizenship, 233 applied for Dutch, 32 sought Norwegian, Seven Danish, five Australian, one Hong Kong and one Chinese citizenship. Out of the number, 450 were females and 367 are males.

On the other hand, 39 foreigners applied to naturalize as Ghanaians and 29 of them had been approved and 10 outstanding. Of the figure 17 persons were Lebanese, five Indians, one each from Nigeria, Korea, Egypt, America, Britain and Liberia.

Majority of the Ghanaian applicants according to the Minister were professionals, who were propelled by good economic conditions, high wages, salaries and other incentives to renounce their Ghanaian nationality.

The Director of Migration at the Ministry of Interior, David Agorsor while elaborating on the renouncing of Ghana citizenship said it was “alarming” particularly, because of the calibre of the persons involved.

The situation is coming barely a week after the Brazilian authority revealed that over 200 Black Stars supporters in the just concluded 2014 World Cup had sought asylum in the country.

They had claimed that they were “fleeing the violent conflicts between different Muslim groups,” said Noerci da Silva Melo, Head of the Federal Police said.

In a swift rebuttal the Ghanaian authority told the Brazilian authority to discountenance the asylum claim and urged the country to repatriate the persons involved.