Four Ghanaian men, who had been detained for six months after landing in Malta illegally, yesterday returned to their homeland with high hopes of building a better future for themselves.

One of them, Paul Gyasi, pointed to the irony of the fact that he and his friend Charles Bonsu had left Ghana in search of a better life and now they were volunteering to return after being offered €5,000 each to help them build a new business through an EU-funded repatriation project.

"I think God brought us to Malta," Mr Gyasi said in broken English. "We got an injury (damage) on the boat in the sea and the Malta government come and rescued us. Now they say that if we want to go to our country they will give us an amount of money to start a new life... I have to take the opportunity to start my business at home," he said.

He added that he was a driver and he and his friend would use their money to improve the business and buy two cars.

As he stood in front of the check-in desk at the Malta International Airport he pointed at his large luggage. All four men, who were taken to the airport by detention services personnel, had huge suitcases to take back home.

Mr Gyasi said he was carrying soap and clothes given to him at the detention centre.

The other two Ghanaians who left yesterday were Peter Jima and Patrick Dankwah Appiah. Mr Appiah said he was planning to expand his mechanic business to start selling spare parts. He thanked the government for giving him this opportunity that would reunite him with his wife and three children.

The men have been detained at the Safi detention centre every since they landed in Malta illegally on a boat six months ago.

After the EU allocated €5 million to Malta, to be used towards repatriation schemes over the next five years, the men opted to return to Ghana through the Ministry for Foreign Affairs' project Dar. By next month this project will have resettled 70 illegal immigrants back home.