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An indian national named Ashok Kumar Sivaram has petitioned the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo to intervene in a deportation suit filed against him.

Mr. Kumar Sivaram has accused the Interior Minister Ambrose Dery, Director/Comptroller of Immigration Kwame Takyi and the Deputy/Comptroller General/Operations Laud Afrifa of abuse of power and constant harrassment of him.

He wants the President to intervene to revoke the action against him and to restore his residence and work permit to legally live in Ghana.

Explaining his ordeal to the President, Mr. Kumar Sivaram stated in his petition that he is a "50% Shareholder/Director of a Telecom Company called Jai Mai Communications Limited. The company has only two Directors/Shareholders and I am the only Resident Director/Shareholder in Ghana . . . I came into this country in the year 2000 and have been around on a Residence/Work Permit until the Respondents cancelled it and illegally deported me from Ghana on 1st June, 2017 to India . . . "

"Mr. President, I have lived in this country without blemish and carried out my lawful business activities including paying corporate taxes and other statutory payments to the Republic. I have never been convicted of any offence in this country nor any other jurisdiction. All that I have sought to do is to live peacefully in this country and help in putting food on the tables of one hundred and sixty workers that I have employed in my company."

Background

On May 15, 2017, Mr Dery signed an order for Mr Sivaram to be deported on the basis that the businessman used fake documents to enable him to continue to reside in the country.

According to the Minister, the act was “fraudulent and criminal’’ and Mr Sivaram’s presence was not “conducive to the public good.’’

Mr Dery made the order per the powers granted him under Section 36(1) of the Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573).

Court’s decision

But an Accra High Court earlier this month quashed the deportation of Mr Sivaram.

The court ruled that the Interior Minister exceeded his jurisdiction when he determined that Indian had engaged in fraud and subsequently deported him.