The Minister for Interior, Ambrose Dery, has said he respects the court judgment ordering him to allow the Indian Businessman, Ashok Kumar Sivaram, to stay in Ghana, but he disagrees with the order.
The High Court ordered the Immigration Service to restore the work and residence permit of Mr Sivaram within seven days, after months of failing to do so, despite a decision quashing his deportation due to its illegal nature.
The court, on July 31, 2017 quashed the deportation of Mr Sivaram by the Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery.
According to the court, the Interior Minister exceeded his jurisdiction by determining fraud against the Indian businessman without recourse to the court.
But Mr Sivaram accused Mr Dery of harassing him. He said he had not been given a visa despite the court order. He petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo to call the Minister of Interior and the Comptroller of the Ghana Immigration Service to order over what he termed as harassment by the two.
Speaking in an interview with Accra FM’s parliamentary correspondent, Richard Appiah Sarpong, on Thursday, November 2 Mr Derry said: “Let me make this point clearly, deportation of people from this country is a role that is played by the Minister for Interior and there have been several of deportations and the deportation of that Indian was based purely on security advice. Just as I told you there is a court judgment, I respect it even if I disagree with it, but all I can say is that I was out of town, I was in Cape Coast, I have come back and we will study the court decision.
“We have our own people being deported from other countries, they are not deported because they are economic liabilities.
“The information that went out about this deportation was laughable, that I have a personal interest. I don’t even know the man from any place and I have never met any deportee by himself. There are institutions that work that come out with recommendations for people to be deported, and when it comes to that, I deport them.
“I have deported a number of people and they have gone, if he thinks that he was wrongly deported and went to court so be it, and if he got the judgment so be it.
“The right to stay in this country and the right to be deported remains the preserve of the Minister for Interior, no judgment takes that away.”
Source:Ghana/AccraFM.com
