Atuguba et al. part, still relies on sharing physical copies of documents among government institutions and departments. This makes it difficult to readily find relevant information or to transfer such information between agencies. Many government institutions suffer missing or destroyed documents, some of which could possibly benefit stateless persons or persons at risk of being stateless. State succession: Following the exercise of selfdetermination, colonies and subdivisions within a state may secede and may be given de facto or de jure recognition as independent states. In furtherance of their exercise of sovereignty, these new states do not recognize themselves as subjects of the old state, and persons occupying these new states are usually recognized as citizens of the new state and are no longer citizens of the old state. The geography of the new state may be such that certain persons may find themselves in the new state but may not be recognized as its citizens, and such persons would have effectively lost the assistance and protection of the old state. In effect, such persons become stateless or at risk of statelessness. By the same logic, certain persons in the old state who share common ties with the persons in the new state may be stateless, because they would not be recognized by the old state as its citizens and they would not benefit from the assistance and protection of the new state. Populations at Risk of Statelessness in Ghana 23 included in this group. It is estimated that immigrants constitute more than 7% of Ghana’s total population of about 30.42 million people, with the majority of these immigrants coming from other ECOWAS countries (World Population Review 2019). Most immigrants in Ghana who do not obtain citizenship of Ghana may be living in Ghana “unlawfully” or may have permanent residence or residence permits. Information retrieved from the Ghana Immigration Service indicates that there are increasing populations of Chinese, Indians, Nigerians, Nigeriens, Togolese, and Ivorians who live and work in Ghana. A random sample of 20 persons originating from these countries revealed that 70 percent had one form of identity documentation showing their nationality. The risk of statelessness, however, increased as these persons continued to live in Ghana for extended periods, with some not intending to return to their home countries. The loss or expiration of identity documents for these persons puts them at risk of becoming stateless. For example: Memunatu Fulani, who was born and bred in the Western Region of Ghana, applied for a Republic of Ghana passport. She was required to produce an official identity document (ID card). She had a birth certificate as well as a voter’s ID card. Both parents of Memunatu Fulani were born in Ghana, and her grandparents were in Ghana before Ghana gained independence from Great Britain on March 6, 1957. She has never traveled outside Ghana. Her application for a passport was, however, denied. She was said not to be a citizen of Ghana and thus not entitled to the Republic of Ghana passport. Memunatu Fulani was required to furnish further documentation to prove that one of her parents or grandparents was a citizen of Ghana. Her inability to get any documentation to prove this led to her jettisoning her application for a Republic of Ghana passport. From the research conducted for this study, the following populations were found to be at risk of statelessness in Ghana: nomadic Fulanis and other undocumented migrants, former Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees, members of border communities in Ghana, Zongo communities in Ghana, trafficked persons, persons of Lebanese origin in Ghana, persons who are stateless as a result of gaps in previous constitutions, descendants of persons The case of Memunatu Fulani is a classic case of who lived near the colonial castles, and children of all the abuse of discretion and a manifest display of the incapapersons identified as being at risk of statelessness. city and technical incompetence of officials of the Passport Office to properly determine the nationality of Nomadic Fulanis and Other Undocumented certain persons who come before it applying for a Migrants Republic of Ghana passport. Physical traits, name, lanThe first population identified as being at risk of state- guage or the inability to speak an indigenous Ghanaian lessness in Ghana are migrants who enter the country language, and other idiosyncrasies of applicants can lead without any identity documentation or stay in the coun- to unlawful denials of qualified persons to certain sertry for extended periods without ever returning to their vices of the state that can be considered essential and countries of origin; descendants of such persons are imperative for the exercise of one’s rights as a citizen.