Beyond the Illegalities: The Silenced Roles of Border Residents in Enhancing Border Security in Ghana

Border residents in the African region have long been portrayed as threats to national security and labelled as passive dwellers or collaborators in cross-border crime. In this study, we apply an Integrated Border Management (IBM) model, supported by labelling theory, to examine the silenced roles of border residents in enhancing border security in Ghana's Western Region. We also point out how Ghana's border governance can effectively integrate border communities through the implementation of our proposed four-pillar IBM model. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews in eight communities, our study reveals that border residents serve as hosts to border officials, sources of human intelligence, providers of essential services, and agents of peace and conflict resolution, which together improve the effectiveness of border security. We show that border residents are simultaneously active contributors and symbolically silenced actors within Ghana's border security architecture, and we argue for their inclusion as legitimate co-producers of border security.