Ghanaian YouTube personality, vlogger, digital media influencer and aeronautical engineer, Berthold Kobby Winkler Ackon, popularly known as Wode Maya has narrated how Immigration Officers harassed him at Togo and Ivory Coast borders.
According to him, the Officers wanted to extort money from him before they would allow him to pass through but he refused to pay money to them.
He said one of his major reasons for visiting many African countries is to advocate for borderless Africa, looking forward to seeing more Africans traveling within Africa freely.
Speaking on a KSM show monitored by Elvisanokyenews.com, Wode Maya lamented over how some Africans are being treated as criminals in their own continents.
” I am advocating for borderless Africa looking forward to seeing more Africans traveling within Africa freely but travelling in Africa seems like you are a criminal in your own continent, so I was going to Togo and we got to the border and we had to go through so many processes. I am carrying an ECOWAS Passport, I have my Ghana Card and I was told that with the Ghana Card I can go to everywhere in the continent.” He said.
“I got to the border and they said we need to pay this amount of money before, I was like can I get a receipt after that? They said no receipt, you just have to pay and go and I said I am not going to pay today or tomorrow until you give me the receipt. So they realised that I have a camera in my hand, this guys one of the things that they are so scared of is the camera. Because they know that their faces will show so when they saw the camera, they tried to take the camera from my hand to destroy it but I said I am not going to allow you today or tomorrow.” He narrated.
“They called me and their boss came and spoke to me and then I left without paying, I was telling them that why should I pay without a receipt and I am holding an ECOWAS passport so it doesn’t make sense.”
“On my way from Ivory Coast to Ghana, they asked me the same thing, I was like, you know what? Ghana is just here so if you don’t give me my passport I am just going and I am not going to pay anything. So they asked me who I am and I said I am nobody, you just give me my passport so they were not going to stamp in and I said if you are not stamping in I am going and I saw the Immigration Officers running so I think they got to know who I am. So they came back and they said oh please give us the passport and I said what do you need my passport for and they said we are very sorry for what the officers did to you” He stated.
Source: Elvisanokyenews.com
