Wrongful detention, traveller’s job loss: Immigration Service to pay GH¢960,000

The High Court in Accra has slapped the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) with GH¢ 960,000 in damages and cost for wrongfully detaining a Ghanaian from travelling back to Germany to resume work after burying his mother in Ghana in 2022. 

The immigration officers, who were to prevent a police-declared wanted person, “Kwabena Asare” from travelling mistakenly prevented the plaintiff, “Kwabena Baffour Asare” from travelling.

The action by the officers of the immigration service delayed Baffour Asare’s resumption to work in Germany leading to the termination of his employment.  

“The Plaintiff (Mr Baffour Asare) was unjustifiably restrained and prevented from travelling on June 18, 2022 and as a consequence lost his job,” the judgment delivered by the General Jurisdiction division of the High Court presided over by Justice Ayitey Armah-Tetteh read.

The Court, therefore, awarded over GH¢910,000 in damages in favour of the plaintiff against the immigration

In addition to this, the court awarded the plaintiff GH¢ 50,000 as cost.

What happened?

Mr Baffour Asare, a Ghanaian and resident of Berlin, Germany, came to Ghana in May 2022 for the funeral of his late mother and decided to return on June 17, 2022.

When he got to the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) and had gone through all the pre-boarding procedures and was preparing to board his flight, he was prevented by immigration officials for being on their “Wanted Persons” list.

He was detained and later taken to the Head office of the GIS.

He was later in the early hours of June 18, 2022, handed over to the Ghana Police Service who subsequently took him to the Adenta Police Station where his statement was taken.

He was subsequently released by the police after the police noticed that he was not the wanted person.

Later on, in the evening of June 18, 2022 while he was going through pre-boarding procedures at the airport to leave the country for Germany he was once more stopped for the same reasons.

Even though he showed the Immigration Officer a Police extract which indicated that he was not the wanted person, he was not allowed to travel.

It was not until 20th June 2022 that he was allowed to travel.

Mr Baffour Asare, took the GIS on, considering that the officers acted negligently, unlawfully and unfairly and contends that his rights have been abused.

Defence

In their defence, the GIS denied Mr Baffour Asare’s claim, contending that the name “Kwabena Asare” was in their database because they received a letter from the Ghana Police Service in respect of one “Kwabena Asare” also residing in Germany who is alleged to have committed an offence.

According to the immigration service, the message from the Ghana Police Service was not accompanied by any photograph of the said “Kwabena Asare” but the GIS however placed the name on its stop list.

According to the GIS, when Mr Baffour Asare got to the airport on June 17, 2022 and was going through the departure formalities, his details popped up in the Immigration Control at the Airport and revealed a similarity match of 94 per cent, adding that its officers had no option but to conduct further checks on the plaintiff.

They argued that it was only on June 20, 2022 they received official communication from the Ghana Police Service that Mr Baffour Asare was not the wanted person and hence, allowed him to travel.

It was their defence that the GIS officers did not act negligently in not allowing Mr Baffour Asare to travel on June 17 and 18 respectively.

The GIS further contended that they acted in good faith devoid of any malicious intentions, saying their actions were geared towards making our country safe and secure.

However, in the course of the trial, the plaintiff showed a police extract to the immigration officers in his second attempt to travel but they disregarded his document and turned him away from travelling.

The immigration officers in charge at the time confirmed that indeed, Mr Baffour Asare came back with an extract that the police had cleared him.

According to the officer, he called his supervisor to inform him about the situation but his superior’s response was that there was not official communication from the Police Headquarters indicating that the plaintiff had been cleared, hence the decision to prevent him from travelling.

He further supported his decision by telling the court that per the standard of the GIS, a passenger could not wield his own clearance letter. 

Judgement

After analysing the evidence presented, Justice Armah-Tetteh concluded that Mr Baffour Asare's freedom of movement, particularly his right to leave the country, was unjustifiably violated by the officers of the Ghana Immigration Service, adding, “The plaintiff's rights were violated by the Officers of the GIS”.

She further held that the officers were negligent and that negligence led to the violation of the plaintiff’s rights and eventually led to the loss of his job.

“The officers exhibited a lack of sensitivity towards Mr Baffour Asare's situation. Looking at what the plaintiff had gone through the day before, one would have expected the officers of the GIS to act prudently on June 18, 2022 when he made an attempt to travel and showed them the extract.

The officers showed no regard for Mr Baffour Asare's interests, resulting in restrictions and restraints imposed on him.

As a result, the Ghana Immigration Service is liable to compensate the plaintiff with exemplary damages,” the judge ruled.

Writer’s mail: justice.agbenorsi@graphic.com.gh