Migration Management In Ghana

1.1 Background Migration as a phenomenon has been in existence since human existence, either for survival or exploration. It is a global phenomenon that is increasingly shaping developmental processes in our ever globalising world and touches on a multiplicity of economic, social and security aspects affecting our daily lives (Blinder and McNeil, 2017). Migration covers a wide array of movements and situations which involves people of all backgrounds; it could be internal or international, rural-urban or urban-urban migration. It provides countries opportunities to benefit immensely and help improve peoples’ lives in both origin and destination (McCauliffe, Goossens and Ullah, 2017). The increase in global mobility due to the advancement in technology leading to easy access to transportation either through road, air and sea; coupled with the growing complexities of migratory patterns and its impact on countries, communities, household and individual migrants have contributed to migration becoming a topic of interest (Duncan and Popp, 2017; Weeks, 2011). Many countries are now experiencing massive movements in populations both within and across borders. According to the United Nations and the International Organisation for Migration (2016), there has been an increase of international migration from 222 million in 2010 to 243 million in 2015; representing a third of the world (UN DESA, 2016). Overall, the estimated number of international migrants has increased over the past years. There has been a substantial increment in international migrants, even at a greater rate than expected. For instance, IOMs 2003 World Migration Report projected that by 2050 international migrants would account for 2.6 per cent of the global population or 230 million (UN DESA, 2002), this projection was revised in the 2010 report to 405 million international migrants globally 2050 (IOM, 2010). This indicates how international migration has been increasing proportionally. A point to note that, this still represents a small minority of the global population meaning that the majority of people migrate within countries; with an estimated 740 million internal migrants in 2009 (UNDP, 2009). African migrants actually move to the global north and that intra and inter-country movements within the region are and continue to be central feature of people‘s livelihood strategies. Indeed, data indicates that in 2006, 84% of the migration movements from West African countries were directed toward another country of the subregion. Such intra-regional movement, estimated at 7.5 million persons, was about seven times greater than migration movements from West Africa to the rest of the world, including Europe and North America. Even though different data sources provide different estimates due to the difficulties of documenting movements within West Africa, all data sources indicate that majority of West African movements, involving different categories of migrants 2 such as temporary cross-border workers, especially female traders, seasonal migrants, clandestine workers, professionals and refugees, farm labourers, unskilled workers and nomads, remains the bulk of migration streams. Much of these movements take place in diverse political, economic and ecological settings and are critical for the livelihoods of many families and communities in West Africa. Countries in Africa are also experiencing challenges and opportunities related to migration and this is fuelled by poverty, ethno-religious conflicts, civil unrest and rapidly growing population (Adepoju, 2010). Internal, intraregional and international migration all takes place within some context. According to Adepoju (2010), there are different forms of migration that characterises the various sub-regions in Africa. West and Central Africa is characterised by labour migration to other locations within the region, to other developed countries in the West and the rich oil countries; Refugees flow within eastern and western Africa as well as inflow of labour migration from eastern and southern African countries to other southern countries that are more developed. This is evident in the 2017 World Migration Report. In 2015, over 16 million Africans were living in another African country and this population of migrants has been growing for the last five-year period (UNDP, 2009). These distinctive migrations are complex in Africa due to factors such as free movement agreements, porous borders among others. In Ghana, migration has played a central and important role in livelihood strategies of the population, be it rural or urban. Ghana‘s pattern of migration is characterised by movement from the north to the south within Ghana and from the less developed rural areas to the developed urban areas. Ghana is also experiencing emigration to other countries especially in the 1970s after the economic decline. This trend started with the movement of unskilled Ghanaians to Cote d‘Ivoire for work in the Agricultural sector; this triggered the emigration of Ghanaians to other African countries and even beyond Africa. By 2008, there was an estimated net of 250,623 to 1.5 million Ghanaian emigrants residing in 33 countries (GSS, 2012; Twum-Baah, 2005). With internal migration, almost half (48.6%) of the population in Ghana have migrated, Accra having the highest proportion of migrants (60.3%) (GSS, 2014). These distinctive migrations have presented both challenges and opportunities to Ghana and will therefore need proper management. Thus, from the period when migration was perceived as mainly negative characterising ―brain drain‖ which carried all the skills of Africa, migration is now regarded as a key to development and even a poverty reduction strategy (Frank, 2003). Migration continues to offer new opportunities for sustainable development as brain gain initiatives continue to contribute to the development of Ghana (Talamo, 2016). Despite its importance, migration has also caused significant challenge to the developmental goal of the country; coupled with the unavailability of reliable and up to date data has made it difficult to integrate migration into the broader development agenda of the country 3 (Adepoju, 2010; Weeks, 2008). There is limited coherence and linkages in existing migration-related laws due to the low coordination among the various institutions. The proper management of migration could help promote the positive outcomes of migration and prevent the negative consequences. This essay hence examines the National Migration Policy (NMP) which was meant to manage Ghana‘s migration flows in tandem with the goal of Ghana‘s long term development goals. This essay aims to examine the various management strategies adopted by Ghana to manage migration as well as examine the challenges or weaknesses of migration management in Ghana.