By Alieu Amara Suwu
A team from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has made a courtesy call on the new Chief Immigration Officer (CIO), Hon. Alusine Kanneh, and assured him of their support in addressing migration issues in Sierra Leone.
IOM is an Intergovernmental organization in the field of migration dedicated to ensuring the orderly and humane management of migration, promote international cooperation on migration issues, assist in the search for practical solutions to migration problems, and provide humanitarian assistance to migrants in need. The global migration agency made the visit on Thursday 28 September 2023, at the Immigration Headquarters, Glouster Street, Freetown.
Receiving the IOM Team, the New Sierra Leonean Immigration Boss said he was gratified to meet with the team and was swift to say that the institution is faced with numerous challenges ranging from staffing, administration to vehicles; he therefore said he would be grateful to receive any support from the IOM.
He also stated that since he is an expert in the area of immigration, he has promised the President to bring good policies that will change the face of the institution.
“I told the President that, as an expertise who read immigration in Norway and I worked there also, I will bring all these expertise, and with support from my staff we will surely bring sanity into this institution,” he said.
He pointed out lacunae in the institution, hence expressed readiness to bring sanity into the institution. Among the challenges Hon. Kanneh pointed out are less attention paid to the Immigration Department as one of the security institutions that is very key to the gateway of Sierra Leone; lack of vehicles and motorbikes and digitalization. He also told the team that he is also focusing on data protection, having realized that there are no proper record systems at the Immigration Department and that data protection is very key to such an institution.
Furthermore, CIO said before this time, the Immigration Department used to be like a market place – there was no sanity, influx of people that had no business to be around the corridors of the building – but since he assumed office with support from his staff, he has been able to bring some sanity into the institution.
Hon. Alusine Kanneh disclosed to the IOM team that, in the next one month, the Immigration Department will be under full engineering work, a contract he said has already been awarded a to a reputable company to renovate the whole building.
Christos Christosdoulides, Head of IOM Sierra Leone, congratulated CIO on his appointment and thanked him for the impressive changes which he has brought into the Immigration Department.
The Head of IOM informed the CIO that they have been operating in the country for over 22 years now, working very closely with the Government of Sierra Leone and the Immigration Department and with such relationship with the previous CIO, he knows they will continue the good working relationship with the current Chief Immigration Officer. He noted that Immigration Department is a key partner of IOM, and that they will continue collaborating mainly on border patrol management and volunteering return operations. He continued that the IOM Sierra Leone migration is a key topic to Immigration Department that mainly looks at border management, border governance and also all the aspect related to the management of migration which the Immigration Department plays a key role and they can see together to reinforce further collaboration with the Immigration Department and to see further options to the needs and request to the government of Sierra Leone with regards to border management in particular.
“I am expecting to continue with the relationship we had with the Immigration Department for the past 20 years and to even seek to do more together and be very proactive and seek solutions to any given challenges and issues we might face with regards to migration” he assured.
