(WAJA/IFEX) – The following is a 16 June 2001 WAJA statement: IMMIGRATION AUTHORITIES CANNOT LOCATE LIBERIAN JOURNALIST The immigration authorities say they have no idea about the whereabouts of Liberian journalist Ambrose Darrul Nmah days after he was expected to have left the country. He had been asked to leave Ghana for overstaying the period […]
(WAJA/IFEX) – The following is a 16 June 2001 WAJA statement:
IMMIGRATION AUTHORITIES CANNOT LOCATE LIBERIAN JOURNALIST
The immigration authorities say they have no idea about the whereabouts of Liberian journalist Ambrose Darrul Nmah days after he was expected to have left the country.
He had been asked to leave Ghana for overstaying the period of stay granted him while working without the requisite documents.
On May 31, 2001 Darrul was picked up by personnel of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) for working without a work permit at the premises of Radio Gold, where he hosts a magazine programme called the Morning Show.
Though he claimed to be a refugee, officials of the GIS say Darrul had no certificate from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and had used his Liberian passport to enter the country on March 4, 2001. According to information gathered from the GIS, Darrul was granted a 90-day stay in the country. His employers were fined 10 million cedis (US$1,400) for employing an illegal alien. There has been some disquiet concerning the action taken against Darrul, whose employers are seen as having sympathies for the former government, which lost power in January.
The Liberian journalist asked for and was granted a one-week extension before being repatriated. The management of Radio Gold was tasked to ensure that he left at the expiry of his extended stay on June 5, 2001.
Information available indicates that Darrul is still in Accra, though his employment with the radio station has been terminated. GIS sources say they suspect that no harm has come to the journalist and that being familiar with the terrain, he may have gone underground in order to stay in the country.
Darrul obtained his Bachelors degree in Political Science at the University of Ghana, where he enrolled for a three-year course in 1993.
