Migration information campaign through music: The effect of Kofi Kinaata’s highlife song on young people in Ghana

Abstract

Since 2014 over 2 million people have arrived at the shores of Europe through irregular crossing. This has created huge socio-economic consequences for the European people. In a bid to solve this unprecedented migrant crisis, the European Union and its member states have implemented migration information campaign (MIC) as part of a remote border control strategy to curb irregular migration. In Ghana, Kofi Kinaata was selected as a goodwill ambassador and his song, entitled ‘No Place Like Home’ is part of a broader advocacy programme that was implemented in West Africa to reduce irregular migration. This study seeks to investigate the effects of Kofi Kinaata’s song on the migration intention of young people in Ghana. The study is a qualitative descriptive study involving sixteen participants in the Cape Coast Metropolis in Ghana. The study revealed that young people with the ambition of migrating irregularly are already aware of the fear messages used by sponsors of MICs, though they still want to travel through the irregular way. It is therefore recommended that investment in remote border control by European countries should focus more on reducing poverty and creating jobs in migrant source countries since these are the key factors driving irregular migration. Immigration policies by EU countries and other migrant receiving countries should also be relaxed making room for alternative affordable and safe pathways to migration. This article has also called on governments in migrant source countries to strengthen their institutions to deal with poverty and regulate migration. This will go a long way to curb the menace of irregular migrants in Europe and elsewhere.