The Police Headquarters District Court has sentenced a Cameroonian and a Togolese national to 36 months in prison with hard labor, in addition to a fine of GH₵18,000.00 each, for illegally obtaining Ghana Cards and birth certificates.
Samuel Sagbo, a 31-year-old barber from Togo, and Edwin Nwanchan Ndum, also known as Edwin Mensah, a 37-year-old unemployed Cameroonian, will face an additional 36 months of imprisonment if they fail to pay the fines.
The two foreigners were apprehended after attempting to acquire Ghanaian passports while posing as Ghanaians. Both Sagbo and Ndum confessed to attempting to obtain the passports through false declarations, obtaining birth certificates by false declarations, acquiring Ghana National Identity (ID) cards, and illegally entering the country.
The court, presided over by Rosemond Vera Aryeetey Ocloo, sentenced them to 12 months in prison each, with an additional fine of GH₵500 penalty units per charge (equivalent to GH₵6,000.00) for the offenses of attempting to obtain passports, acquiring birth certificates, and obtaining Ghana ID cards.
The sentences for the first three offenses will run consecutively.
However, the sentences for attempting to obtain passports and illegal entry will run concurrently.
Prosecuting officer Inspector Jerry Foster Segbefia of the Ghana Immigration Service informed the court that Ndum was arrested on August 1, 2024, at the Premium Passport Application Centre near Kwame Nkrumah Circle, on suspicion of having a doubtful nationality while trying to obtain a Ghanaian passport.
Sagbo was arrested on August 2, 2024, at the Tema Station application center. Both were subsequently referred to the Enforcement Department at the Immigration Headquarters for further investigation.
Inspector Segbefia revealed that Ndum’s birth certificate falsely indicated he was born at the Akim Achiase Health Centre in the Eastern Region to Ghanaian parents Benjamin Mensah and Joycelyn Acquaye.
Sagbo’s birth certificate falsely claimed he was born at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to Marc Sagbo and Happy Dossa, also purportedly Ghanaians. However, neither could lead investigators to their alleged parents.
Further investigation by the GIS revealed that Sagbo is a Togolese national born in Aneho, Northern Togo, to Togolese parents, contradicting the information on his birth certificate.
Ndum was found to be a Cameroonian born in Anong, North-West Region of Cameroon, to Cameroonian parents Ayang John Nwachan and Grace Atam, proving his Ghanaian birth certificate to be false as well.
The court also heard that both Sagbo and Ndum entered Ghana through unauthorized border crossings near the Aflao border post.
Ndum had entered Ghana in February 2023 and stayed with Cameroonian friends in Dansoman, while Sagbo entered on February 28, 2022, and worked in various barbering salons before renting his shop in Accra.
Sagbo and Ndum told investigators that they sought Ghanaian passports to travel abroad in search of better opportunities.
They had contacted different agents who acquired the Ghanaian birth certificates for them at different fees, completed online passport applications, and booked appointments for them to finalize the process. Ndum paid GH₵2,700, and Sagbo paid GH₵1,200 for the birth certificate and passport. They were arrested during the vetting process.
Inspector Segbefia added that further investigations revealed both Ndum and Sagbo had acquired Ghana Cards during the 2024 mass registration exercise under false identities. Ndum was known as Nwachan Edwin Ndum, not Edwin Mensah.
In their cautioned statements, both admitted to the offenses. Before sentencing, Inspector Segbefia urged the court to impose a custodial sentence, citing the diplomatic issue between Ghana and the USA in 2019 when the US refused to issue visas valid for more than six months to members of the executive.
“This happened when Ghana refused to accept some number of persons holding Ghanaian passports due for deportation to Ghana from US simply because the Ghanaian authorities doubted their citizenship though they were in possession of Ghanaian passports.”
