We Need To Have The Courage To ‘Eject’ Buduburam Refugees – Fmr. Upper Denkyira West MP

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Former Member of Parliament(MP) for Upper Denkyira West, Benjamin Kofi Ayeh, has supported the move to vacate residents of the Buduburam Camp.

State authorities have issued a notice to the residents to leave the camp.

A notice signed by the Gomoa East District Chief Executive (DCE), Solomon Darko-Quarm indicated they should leave by September 30.

But the residents have expressed their frustrations arguing that the way and manner in which they were asked to leave was not right.

Some of them stated, according to a Daily Graphic publication, the District assembly’s decision should have been “channelled through the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Ghana Refugee Board, since it was through the UN body and the government of Ghana that they settled at the camp”.

Others also said they can’t leave because the borders were closed but if the necessary access was created for them, they would vacate the camp.

Discussing the issue during Peace FM’s ‘Kokrokoo’, Hon. Ben Ayeh strongly opined that ejecting the refugees is long overdue.

According to him, the camp has become a crime zone, hence a good decision for the residents to either return home or be reintegrated into the society.

He told host Kwami Sefa Kayi; “I feel the time has come for us to close that place down . . . If per international rules [laws] and per the Ghana Immigration Authority feel some 400, for whatever reason they should be given a refugee status, dealing with that issue shouldn’t have been an issue. 10 years along the line, resettling 400 people within the larger Ghanaian community shouldn’t have been an issue, especially when we know that where they have congregated doesn’t help this nation to keep them there.”

“The Refugee Board should be able to meet them and look at ways to integrate those, even within the 400, that we will accept; every means we will use to integrate them within the larger society, we should go ahead and demolish that place for the place is giving us a bad name. Our security, I mean the crime rate and things that go on there are unacceptable. So, when you weigh the pros and cons, I support any call that yes, we have to have the courage and do the needful by demolishing that place.”

By:Peacefmonline.com/Ghana