Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, George Ayisi-Boateng has met with the Ghanaian community in Cape Town in Khayelitsha on Friday 22nd September, 2017 as part of the Missions engagement with the Ghanaian community.
Attended by over 200 compatriots, the High Commissioner was ushered into the meeting grounds in a cacophony of noise by a visibly enthused community most of whom were seeing the Head of Mission for the first time barely a month after arriving in the country to assume duty.
In his dialogue with the community, the High Commissioner thanked the gathering for coming out in their numbers to welcome him, intimating that it was an indication of a long-term fruitful relationship. Extending greetings from the President, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, the Head of Mission noted that while he had been appointed by the President, following the mandate given by all Ghanaian nationals to the ruling party, he was in South Africa to serve all compatriots and his doors were open to everyone.
He congratulated the Ghanaian community for being law abiding and encouraged them to come forward with business proposals and investors willing to take advantage of the conducive investment climate created by the government of Ghana.
The Head of Mission enumerated a number of positive strides chalked by the government such as the introduction of the free SHS policy, the National ID Card and socio-economic projects.
During the question and answer segment of the programme, a number of issues were raised bordering on the need to increase the duration of passports from five to ten years, the need for national ID cards to be issued to Ghanaians in the diaspora, challenges in obtaining birth certificates for children of foreign nationals born in South Africa and the need for the Mission to help Ghanaian nationals to regularize their stay.
In his closing remarks, the High Commissioner encouraged the Ghanaian community to continue respecting South African laws and called on the various Ghanaian associations to work together for the common good of Ghana.
The Mission seized the opportunity to capture the biometric impressions of many nationals who needed Ghanaian passports for printing in Pretoria.
In a related development, H.E. George Ayisi-Boateng held a fruitful meeting with a group of Cape Town businessmen who are interested in investing in various sectors of Ghana’s economy. The discussions met H.E.’s pleasure which he describes as forming the basis of his presence in South Africa (ie attracting businesses to invest in Ghana).
Source:Ghana/AccraFM.com
