The Dynamics Of Immigration Policymaking In Ghana

Abstract

The number of international migrants has been increasing in real terms, reaching 281 million by mid-2020, even amid the COVID-19 pandemic but is still estimated to be 3.5% of the world's population. Out of this figure, Africa is estimated to host about 14%, the third largest after Europe and North America. Ghana, a traditional migration country in West Africa, s019, has been designated as a net-emigration and transit country. As an intermistic phenomenon, international migration has increased the interest in global and regional migration governance, which was a preserve of the nation-state. Although the twenty-first century has been described as 'the age of migration', only 3.5% of the world's population is moving, with 96.5% remaining in their countries of birth. Studying immigration policy, a dual-purpose strategy has, as a result, gained currency recently but is skewed toward the Global North. Coming from policy diffusion, domestic political economy and institutional theories, this qualitative study examined the dynamics of immigration policymaking in Ghana. The findings indicate that immigration policymaking in Ghana though progressive has been bureaucratic, involving state and international actors. Secondly, immigration policies during the colonial era were less restrictive, became restrictive during the early independence era and more complex in this contemporary era. Thirdly, immigration policy in Ghana is driven mainly by security and economic considerations with diverse effects. The study, therefore, recommends the de-securitisation of migration, improvement of the linkage of immigration to skills, investment and a composite national immigration policy. Keywords: Immigration policymaking, intermistic phenomenon, dual purpose strategy, bureaucratic