Migrants Aren’t Invaders Or Criminals- Mahama Blasts Western Leaders

President John Dramani Mahama has called the bluff on the persistent negative portrayals of migrants by Western leaders.

Chronicling some distinguished and accomplished Ghanaian migrants who are making strides in America and Europe, he challenged that migrants are neither “invaders” nor “criminals”.

In his speech at the 80th UN Assembly in New York on September 25, 2025, he argued that cruelty, hatred, xenophobia and racism shouldn’t be normalised in the name of a half-told story about migrants.

“If we are going to tell a story, let’s not tell it slanted, let’s tell all the truth. When we speak of migrants, we speak of Maame Awusi Mensah Frimpong, a judge on the US District Court for the Central District of California. She is the first Black female Judge on any of California’s Fourth Federal District Court. She was born here in America to immigrant parents from Ghana.”

He also referenced Peter Bossman, a medical doctor in Ghana who moved to the town of Piran in Slovania in 1980 and later became the first black mayor in Slovania and in the whole of Eastern Europe; T Michael, the icon Ghanaian Norwegian artiste and designer; and the late Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary General and Nobel Peace Prize recipient who was born in Gahan but spent his adulthood in various places in America and Europe.

“These are people who have brought great distinctions to the countries that they decided to call home. Just as the migrants and children of migrants before them did, I dare say, these are not invaders, these are not criminals.”

President Mahama was also critical about the cause of migration by Africans, which Western leaders brand as “their migration problems”.

According to him, Africans are forced to move due to the ravages of climate change perpetuated by the Global North, which emits 75% more greenhouse gases than the Global South.

“The effects of climate change are more severe in the Global South because we lack the resources to address them effectively.  So, when the desert encroaches and our villages and towns become unlivable, we are forced to flee.”

Story by Hajara Fuseini

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