The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has made massive shake-up of its top senior officers in a bid to reinforce its capacity to secure the borders against illegal entry.

The Service says the reshuffle is also to prevent the importation of the novel coronavirus into the country.

The reshuffle, which takes immediate effect has led to the rotation of six top Immigration Officers and 53 other Senior Officers at the National Headquarters (NHQ), Regional and Sector Commands.

The changes saw the Head of Management Information Systems Department (MISD), Deputy Commissioner of Immigration (DCOI) Eric Afari, move to head Bono Region as the Regional Commander.

The Ashanti Regional Commander, Assistant Commission of Immigration (ACI) Michael Kwadade has been moved to the Operations Department at the NHQ, and the Regional Commander of Upper West, ACI Peter Yao Nkrumah reassigned to the North East as the Regional Commander.

The Head of Human Resource Department, Assistant Commission of Immigration (ACI) Kojo Oppong Yeboah goes to head the Tema Region as the Regional Commander whiles the Tema Regional Commander, ACI Adwoa Sika Anim takes over as the Head of Human Resource Department with the Bono Regional Commander, ACI Charles Bediako going to the Ashanti Region as the Regional Commander.

The changes marks the Comptroller-General of Immigration’s second major reshuffle since the year 2018 as it also seeks to strengthen its operations in enforcing laws relating to the immigration and employment of non-Ghanaians in the country.

With the exception of Chief Superintendent of Immigration (CSI) William Andoh who hitherto was the Regional Commander for the North East and now the Upper West Regional Commander, the remaining nine Chief Superintendents of Immigration were reassigned as Second-In-Command to some of the Regional Commands, Officer-In-Charge (OIC) of some Sector Commands and other entry points.

In the same vein, Twenty-two Superintendents of Immigration (SI) were transferred to serve at the Districts Commands and minor entry points as well as permits and processing sections at NHQ while seven of them were reassigned to the Operations Departments at NHQ.

The ranks of other senior officers reshuffled include seven Deputy Superintendents of Immigration (DSI) and seven Assistant Superintendents of Immigration (ASI).