Libyan returnees languishing in Tamale

Some returnees who were repatriated from Libya last year during the political tensions there have been experiencing economic hardships in Tamale with most of them planning to return to that country.

Majority of them have been living without jobs since their return and according to them they have become a laughing stock within their communities, a situation they say is making life miserable for them.

Abdul Rashid Alhassan, a returnee who poured out his frustrations in an interview with the Ghana News Agency during a forum on a draft national policy on migration, said he could barely make ends meet. “I cannot even afford to get GH¢10 in a month, but in Libya, I made about 200 dollars a month”.

He said since his return, he had been combing through the job market, but was yet to lay his hands on any job. "I am disappointed about the unemployment situation in Ghana".

Alhassan who is 36 years of age and a driver by profession, relies on family members and friends for survival stressing that he was forced to marry when he returned and had had a child, but could not feed his family.

He stated that most of his friends who returned from Libya with him had gone back to that country through the desert.

Recounting his experiences, he said he had gone to Libya on two occasions both through the desert and observed that traveling on that route was very deadly, but had no option as it was the last resort.

Alhassan narrated the bitter experiences that some of his colleagues were equally going through and appealed to the government and other humanitarian organizations and individuals to extend a helping hand to them.

Prof. Stephen Kwankye, a Consultant of the Draft National Policy on Migration, advised the returnees not to choose among jobs, but to lay their hands on any available job that could earn them income.

He however urged the government to institute measures to find a lasting solution to the growing unemployment rate in the country lamenting that there is currently an association of unemployed graduates, a situation he described as unhealthy for the development of the youth.

Prof. Mariama Awumbila, Director for the Centre for Migration Studies (CMS) at the University of Ghana, said migration had both positive and negative effects to the socio-economic development of the country, stressing that the development of a national policy was the best way to address the situation.

She announced that the CMS would by the end of August this year, make ready the draft national policy on migration and forward it to the appropriate quarters for consideration.