U.S Sanctions Ghana, Restricts Visa For Citizens

The United States Government has imposed sanctions on Ghana by imposing visa restriction for citizens of the country.

The visa restriction came on Thursday following Ghana’s alleged refusal to cooperate with the U.S to have its citizens deported from the country.

According to U.S Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, the restriction was for certain categories of visa applications, but could be expanded to wider categories if the West African country continues to resist cooperation with the U.S.

A statement by the Department of Homeland Security says Pompeo has ordered Consular officers in Ghana to immediately effect the visa restriction pending the country’s response to take back its deported citizens.

“As a result, Secretary of State Pompeo has ordered consular officers in Ghana to implement visa restrictions on certain categories of visa applicants. Without an appropriate response from Ghana, the scope of these sanctions may be expanded to a wider population,” said the statement by the Department of Homeland Security.

“The sanctions will remain in place until the Secretary of Homeland Security notifies Secretary Pompeo that cooperation on removals has improved to an acceptable level.”

The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, said: “The United States routinely cooperates with foreign governments in documenting and accepting U.S. citizens when asked, as appropriate, as do the majority of countries in the world, but Ghana has failed to do so in this case.

“We hope the Ghanaian government will work with us to reconcile these deficiencies quickly.”

The U.S did not give figures of how many Ghanaian citizens it was deporting, but previous reports suggest that as much as 7, 000 Ghanaians were due for deportation from the U.S.