EDITORIAL: Recognizing Ghanaians abroad as true “development partners”.

History is replete with the movement (exodus) of people around the world for all kinds of reasons. People move from their countries of origin for all kinds of reasons. Apart from those that are forced to leave their countries of origin for safety reasons, most people move for better living and economic conditions. Ghanaians have been no exception to this exodus train. They have been moving around the world seeking greener economic pastures for a long time now. Presently Ghanaians can be found in every corner of the globe from Afghanistan to Zambia, from Australia to Greenland. It is even joked that when the British recaptured the Falklands Islands from Argentina in 1982, they found Ghanaians there.

The significant thing about the expatriate Ghanaians is that they never forget “home”. In fact the nation’s economy has been sustained and propped up mainly by Ghanaians living outside its shores. Most of the massive building projects and numerous cars, taxis and public buses running in the country were shipped there by Ghanaians living outside the country. In short, Ghanaians living outside its borders have been responsible for providing and propping up critical infrastructures of the country. In building homes for themselves and their families, they take the pressures off the governments in providing this service. Ghanaians living abroad have been acting as the social safety net and welfare agencies for their families at home taking off the pressure and responsibility off the back of the government. Most Ghanaian communities abroad have been contributing massive amounts of money and resources to finance development projects: schools, hospitals, electrification projects and have shipped a lot of educational and medical resources to the country’s institutions.

In spite of all these massive contributions to the nation’s development and stability, Ghanaians living outside the country get little or no recognition for their efforts. At best they will get an occasional acknowledgement from a government official when they need Ghanaians abroad to send in more resources. The military governments of yesteryears in Ghana were openly hostile to Ghanaians living abroad. In fact it was the Rawlings PNDC government that wrote the Constitution that stripped Ghanaians abroad of their citizenship if they took on another, a very narrow, misguided and myopic move. The constitutional governments from the mid 1990s have been pretending that they value the contributions of Ghanaians living abroad. The rhetoric of “recognizing” the contributions of Ghanaians abroad reached fever pitch in the Kufuor (NPP) years. The Kufour government was fond of describing Ghanaians living abroad as “significant development partners” and that the government valued our contributions. But that is where it ended. The views and opinions of Ghanaians abroad do not count in any way in formulating policy in Ghana. At best we are told to contribute resources but “shut up” when it comes to discussing the destiny of the nation.

The present Mills government has also started making the same empty noise about Ghanaians abroad. The new High Commissioner to Canada used the same “important development partners” line in his speech in Ottawa during the celebration of Ghana’s 53rd Independence anniversary. But we have heard all that before. It is time the governments at home in Ghana showed more honesty and sincerity in their dealings with Ghanaians abroad. We have heard the rhetoric over and over. It is time for more concrete action and respect for the contributions Ghanaians abroad make to the development of Ghana.