By Nana Ama Asante
Immigration authorities across the world have often noted a striking similarity in the personal stories submitted by Ghanaian asylum seekers—especially those from the LGBTQ+ community.
While such similarities can raise concerns about credibility, experts say the pattern is rooted less in dishonesty and more in Ghana’s educational and cultural background.
A School System Built on Rigid Writing Templates
From the earliest stages of basic education, Ghanaian students are taught to write compositions using strict, pre-set formulas. A typical school essay follows a clear three-part structure—introduction, body, and conclusion—and begins with predictable openings like “One day…” or “It all began when…”. Pupils are encouraged to memorize model essays and reproduce them during exams, leaving little room for individuality or improvisation.
When former students later face asylum interviews or are required to write personal statements, they often fall back on this rigid style.
Immigration officers, however, expect unique, emotionally rich narratives, making these structured, formal accounts appear rehearsed—even when they are genuine.
The Missing Personal Voice
Ghana’s education system prizes grammar and structure over emotional connection.
There is little emphasis on vulnerability, personal opinion, or descriptive nuance. This habit of “writing what is expected” rather than “writing what is felt” means that many asylum narratives lack the emotional markers that decision-makers look for when judging authenticity.
Recycled Storylines and Predictable Plot Points
School assignments in Ghana frequently repeat the same scenarios—“The Day I Was Attacked,” “How I Escaped Danger,” or “A Visit to the Hospital.” Over years of repetition, these become the mental blueprints for describing any crisis. When seeking asylum, claimants sometimes unconsciously apply these same dramatic structures to recount their persecution, leading to eerily similar stories about being discovered by relatives, attacked by mobs, or exposed on social media.
High Stakes Encourage ‘Safe’ Storytelling
The fear of making mistakes—deeply ingrained in Ghanaian students through strict marking systems—carries over into the asylum process. With so much at risk, some claimants stick to familiar “safe” templates or copy the formats of previously accepted applications, assuming this increases their chances of success.
Beyond Assumptions of Fabrication
While similar accounts can understandably raise red flags for immigration officials, cultural and educational contexts reveal that repetition is not always evidence of collusion or fabrication. Rather, it is often the natural outcome of a shared schooling system and storytelling tradition that values order and predictability over personal nuance.
A Call for Cultural Awareness in Immigration Reviews
Advocates say asylum decision-makers should factor in the educational and cultural backgrounds of claimants before questioning credibility based solely on similarities in narrative structure.
They also recommend providing more culturally sensitive legal aid and narrative coaching so that genuine asylum seekers can better convey their unique lived experiences.
The challenge, experts argue, is not just to verify truth—but to understand how truth is told.
