A well relayed message Mr. President, but why must we slave abroad?

President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, last Monday urged the government of Qatar to ensure that the maltreatment of Ghanaians who travel to the Gulf State ceases.

The President made the call when he received letters of credence from the in-coming Qatar Ambassador to Ghana, Mohammed Jaber Al-Kuwari, at the Flagstaff House—the seat of government—on Monday, July 10, 2017.

“We are disturbed by the maltreatment and abuse of our nationals in Qatar. The authorities in Qatar must do something about it,” President Akufo-Addo told the Qatari Ambassador.

Mr. President, we must say that you are not the only person who is worried about the continuous maltreatment suffered at the hands of some Qataris in the Gulf State.

We believe many well-meaning Ghanaians including civil society groups and human rights activists have equally been disquieted by some of the harrowing tales of Ghanaians who have been subjected to one form of abuse and the other in Qatar.

It is a welcoming piece of news to see the President wade into the matter and try to impress upon the Qatar government to end some of the inhumane treatments Ghanaians suffer at the hands of their employers in faraway Qatar.

It is, therefore, the expectation of Today that the government of Qatar will take note of what our President has said and take steps to bring an end to these attacks on Ghanaians in Qatar.

After all, thanks to globalisation, the world is now a smaller place and no one country lives in isolation. We depend on each other in many ways, whether as a developed or under-developed country.

The mere fact that we have a Qatari Ambassador in this country even attests to the fact that there is some relationship between Ghana and that country and both sides should respect that cordiality.

On the other hand, however, it is worrying the soaring numbers of Ghanaians who risk amidst perilous paths to travel outside sometimes seeking for non-existent jobs albeit in the Gulf States, Europe, America, Asia or wherever they dream of going to.

In fact, we have watched and read about the harsh conditions a lot of migrant Africans (Ghanaians included) have had to endure, sometimes at the risk of their lives while crossing the dessert and the Mediterranean Sea to reach the West.

Sadly, those who endure the journey, whether to the Gulf or other Western countries, end up doing menial jobs for menial pay, something they would have frowned on back in their home countries. Many of our Ghanaian brothers and sisters who have made it to some of the Gulf countries are engaging in all manner of jobs akin to modern day slavery.

Thus, the question engraved on the lips of many Ghanaians, including those on Today, is: why must we travel and slave abroad?

This is a question we at Today find it difficult to answer. Of course we know there are some who will be quick to say that people do that to make ends meet.

But, that is exactly our point. Why must we slave abroad, sometimes at the peril of our lives, to make ends meet?

In our opinion, we can all contribute our quota to make Ghana a prosperous nation so that we all share in its fruits. That is something we must all strive to achieve and stop these perilous journeys to abroad in search of nothing short of slave jobs!