The motto of Ghana is freedom and justice. Ghanaians have a responsibility to themselves and to Africa. They are the most revered among Africans. If they continue to allow themselves to be treated with disrespect and discourtesy, it can only continue. Racism, disrespect and discourtesy all deny that we live in a Global Free Market Society, as we have been made to understand what a free market is.
Observing the visa section of the British High Commission in Ghana, one cannot but come to the conclusion that Visa Officers are operating a ‘discriminatory interview & refusal model’ that rests “on the pillars of immigration control’ and ‘systematic discrimination’ against Ghanaians. Race prejudice and discrimination on the basis of skin colour are not supposed to happen in a free market according to how Ghanaians understand it.
The very environment of the VISA HALL in Ghana is pervasive with Xeno-racism. In fact the entire visa application environment rests on offensive ‘repressive policing’ by security officers and diverse security constructs that treat Ghanaians as aliens, outsiders and strangers.
Ghanaians, who have lived in the UK and some of whom are now British Citizens, are shocked that the Government of Ghana allows such xenophobia on Ghanaian soil in the name of British security.
What are the xeno-racist aspects of the British High Commission that deny there is a free market in the way Ghanaians have been misled to understand the free market? One is the pervasive anti-human intimidation like one finds in UK Detention Centres or British Prisons. A second is undue repressive interference by security officers in the queuing system throwing their weight around (and, can you imagine, even ordering Applicants where to stand like British Police Officers notoriously on their blatant ‘stop and search’ missions against young black men). A third is denying freedom of movement in line with free markets unless you have a justifiable bank draft – visa fees, yes money! A fourth is failing to create an environment fit for human beings to just relax and feel really free; the inhuman silence in what is akin to a prison cell they call a visa hall is really deafening. A fifth is the uncivil prevention of human beings from leaving to get some water or food. A sixth is the sheer inhuman and general unfriendliness and pervasive preoccupation with enforcing rules and regulations. A seventh is the pervasive absence of human beings that are just ‘helpful’ and ‘courteous’. In short, if you like, there is simply no ‘free’ market customer care.
There is little evidence that the British High Commission in Ghana sees Ghanaian visa applicants as human beings. As if this is not enough, the repressive processes continue when you land at Heathrow Airport. The dehumanisation continues unabated. The Heathrow immigration officers forget to offer customer service that is human. Every black face is treated as a persona non grata in a long winding queue that defies market logic and decent customer service. They go through your travel documents not to be courteously helpful but to find reasons to detain you, deport you and while deporting you through their outsourced agencies add assault and monkey-calling insults on the least chance. This Free Market Society thing must surely be a fraud.