Reparation must start with dignity for visa applicants – Barker-Vormawor

Private legal practitioner Oliver Barker-Vormawor has urged embassies in Ghana to provide sheltered waiting areas for visa applicants.

According to him, it is disrespectful and inhumane for Ghanaians to queue on street corners, exposed to the weather, while processing visas.

He further said discussions about reparations should not be limited to historical injustices but must also include how Africans and Ghanaians are treated in their everyday interactions with foreign institutions.

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In a post shared on social media on September 21, 2026, he said: “Reparations must start with treating visa applicants like human beings with dignity. All embassies must provide a sheltered waiting area for visa applicants.”

“It is completely undignifying to see our citizens line up [on] street corners, exposed to the elements, because some embassy thinks it fair to allow people [to] gather outside.”

Barker-Vormawor said his experience applying for visas in countries outside Africa had drawn his attention to the fact that visa applicants in African countries, especially Ghana, must be treated with greater dignity.

He condemned the treatment of visa applicants at some embassies in Africa, adding that Ghana must take swift steps to end the practice.

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“I have lived in many countries outside Africa; applied for visas in those countries, I have no experience of any of them treating visa applicants like trash. Here on the continent, they take the craziest of liberties with our people. Ghana must end this!”

“Happy Nkrumah birthday to you all,” he added.

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RAD/MA

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