Over the last few days, the term ‘Operation Red Meat’ has been reported in the United Kingdom media.
According to reports, UK authorities have supposedly been drawing up a policy with plans of resettling asylum seekers coming into the UK.
This, apparently, also included plans to set up processing immigration hubs in Ghana and Rwanda.
Having gained knowledge about reports about this being extended to Ghana, the foreign ministry responded, rejecting any links to the said operation.
What is operation ‘Dead Meat’
According to international news media outlets, including birminghammail.co.uk and Sky News, UK’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has courted anger and disaffection from sections of the country’s public after holding a number of parties at his backyard during lockdown period in the UK.
According to reports, he has been severely criticized for breaching COVID-19 protocols and has since tried to win back support from disaffected MPs, voters and Conservative Party campaigners.
This effort to ‘come back’, according to birminghammail.co.uk, involves “a series of policy announcements designed to restore trust in him.”
These include: An alcohol ban in workplaces operating from Number 10 Downing Street, no increase in the BBC licence fee for at least two years, military assistance in the English Channel and new plans to resolve the backlog for operations within the NHS.
These efforts termed as 'Operation Red Meat' have been termed as 'Operation Dead Meat' by many who believe the attempts by Boris are already failed.
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Under the military assistance in the English Channel policy, Boris reportedly intends to put the military in charge of preventing small boats from crossing illegally into the UK.
This will mean migrants who cross into the UK to seek asylum will be prevented.
The BBC reports that in March last year, Home Secretary, Priti Patel set out plans to overhaul the way people applying for asylum in the UK are treated.
Under the proposals, people who arrive in the UK by what the government calls illegal means to claim asylum will no longer have the same entitlements as those who arrive through proper channels.
How Ghana is linked
As part of this policy, other countries will have to absorb asylum seekers who are turned away by the UK and that's where Ghana comes in.
A statement from the foreign ministry on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 indicated that Ghana had been cited as one of the countries to receive asylum seekers from the UK.
In this statement, the government of Ghana, through the ministry indicated that this information it had learned from reports from some UK newspapers was false.
They denied having any links with the said operation - 'Operation Dead Meat', whilst strongly indicating that Ghana has nothing to do with any such operation.
“Ghana has not engaged with the UK on any such plan and does not intend to consider any such operation in the future,” a statement from the ministry said.
“It is recalled in this regard that the Ministry on the 8th of September, 2021 debunked in a tweet, a news item on Sky News UK about a possible Ghana interest in a partnership agreement with the UK to host deported or returned migrants of Third countries from the UK.
“This position of the [Ghana] government has not changed and the ministry advises that any publication implies otherwise should be ignored,” the statement further added.
Read the full statement below:
