In a candid interview on JoyNews Upfront, Shalimar Abbiusi, spokesperson for the New Force, opened up about her harrowing experience after being arrested by the National Bureau of Investigations and the Immigration Service of Ghana, leading to her subsequent repatriation to Belgium.
In charge of the New Force’s diplomatic missions and diaspora, Abbiusi called her experience a “learning curve” in addition to “horrible.”
She emphasized in the interview that her arrest opened her eyes to structural problems in the Ghanaian legal system.
Abbiusi conveyed compassion for those who lack the financial means to retain legal counsel, highlighting that her personal experience illuminated the challenges encountered by people in comparable circumstances on a daily basis.
Recalling her detention period, Shalimar Abbiusi compared the treatment she endured to that of a terrorist, claiming that it seemed as though all of her humanity had been taken away. According to her, there were people in the Immigration holding facility who had been in custody for up to nine months.
She stated that she was determined to return to Ghana in order to positively impact the country and work towards enhancing the legal and immigration systems, despite the traumatic experience.
The National Investigations Bureau invited Shalimar Abbiusi to a discussion on December 2, 2023. But on December 19, the Ghana Immigration Service cancelled her residency permit, claiming she had made a false declaration to obtain a student residency permit. Later that day, she was returned to her native Belgium.
The manner in which people are treated in detention as well as the general effectiveness of Ghana’s legal and immigration systems have come under scrutiny following Ms. Abbiusi’s arrest.
Her resolve to stop others from going through similar hardships in the future is evident in her commitment to coming back to the nation and pushing for systemic changes. The incident also highlights the difficulties foreign nationals encounter when navigating Ghana’s bureaucratic system.
