My attention was drawn to a news item on Ghanaweb on Thursday, May 14, 2009, tilted “Sex Scandal Rocks Koforidua”. It was then followed by the video clip of the scandal on Ghanaweb’s CasualForum a few days later. The video clip was so disgusting and outrageous. This has left me with so many questions unanswered. Much as a greater portion of the blame must be apportioned to these reckless and sometimes poor girls, the immigration laws in our country must take the blame for these criminals who migrate all the way from Nigeria, with the false pretence of acquiring knowledge and end up disgracing our nation.
No one should misunderstand me, although these girls are wrong and undisciplined, we must be careful in trying to persecute them and throw them under the bus. This is a very sensitive scandal that starts with the girl and their families being embarrassed and disgraced. But once these video clips got onto the internet and it’s being watched all over the world, it becomes an embarrassment to the PROUD and HARDWORKING Ghanaian women and the nation as a whole. We should always remember that just like the saying goes, “if you educate a woman, you educate a nation”, it means that if you disgrace a Ghanaian woman, you disgrace the entire Ghanaian women.
Some of these girls could come from very poor home and the money involved seems to be a meager GHC 200.00, we should remember that money is a very powerful tool that can be used to seduce these young women, not only to have sex that is being recorded, but to even commit more heinous crime. And I’m sure some of then did not knew there were video cameras in the room. So in trying to the judge the girls, we must know that it could even happen to the innocent girls we have at home with good moral upbringing. My anger is rather on these criminals we welcome into our country with open arm, and they turn around to gilt us.
Has anyone paused for a second to imagine if this has happened in Nigeria or Cote D’ivoire and the men are rather Ghanaians? We would have been praying for the soul of the innocent and law-abiding Ghanaians who immigrated to these countries. If just a soccer game between Asec Memosa and Asante Kotoko in Abidjan will end up with the loss of lives of more than hundred Ghanaians, then imagine a Ghanaian preying on poor innocent Nigerians/Ivorians, having sex and selling or posting it on the web. Ghanaian hospitality has been taken for granted for far too long and it’s about time and long overdue, that we stand up for ourselves, if the government cannot stand up for us.
I do not condone or promote violence, but every Ghanaian who was in Nigeria in the 70’s and 80’s can tell their stories and also tell how the police would have been going after every Ghanaian in town. I’m not proposing a reciprocatory action, but a peaceful method. It could start with the students in all our universities protesting the humiliation of Ghanaian women, until new laws are implemented for all international students. The least said about the Ghana Immigration Services the better. What laws do they have in place for all these immigrants? They are more interested in the bribes that goes into their deep pockets than implementing the flimsy weak laws in place. These Nigerian are trooping into Ghana and committing divergent forms of heinous crimes, easily bail themselves from the police with large sums of money and abscond back to Nigeria. It’s about time the government pulls the brakes on the influx of Nigerians into the country or makes the immigration laws unbearable for those who migrate with criminal intentions.
Muhammed S.S. Jawando (LRT) New York Presbyterian Hospital New York, NY
My attention was drawn to a news item on Ghanaweb on Thursday, May 14, 2009, tilted “Sex Scandal Rocks Koforidua”. It was then followed by the video clip of the scandal on Ghanaweb’s CasualForum a few days later. The video clip was so disgusting and outrageous. This has left me with so many questions unanswered. Much as a greater portion of the blame must be apportioned to these reckless and sometimes poor girls, the immigration laws in our country must take the blame for these criminals who migrate all the way from Nigeria, with the false pretence of acquiring knowledge and end up disgracing our nation.
No one should misunderstand me, although these girls are wrong and undisciplined, we must be careful in trying to persecute them and throw them under the bus. This is a very sensitive scandal that starts with the girl and their families being embarrassed and disgraced. But once these video clips got onto the internet and it’s being watched all over the world, it becomes an embarrassment to the PROUD and HARDWORKING Ghanaian women and the nation as a whole. We should always remember that just like the saying goes, “if you educate a woman, you educate a nation”, it means that if you disgrace a Ghanaian woman, you disgrace the entire Ghanaian women.
Some of these girls could come from very poor home and the money involved seems to be a meager GHC 200.00, we should remember that money is a very powerful tool that can be used to seduce these young women, not only to have sex that is being recorded, but to even commit more heinous crime. And I’m sure some of then did not knew there were video cameras in the room. So in trying to the judge the girls, we must know that it could even happen to the innocent girls we have at home with good moral upbringing. My anger is rather on these criminals we welcome into our country with open arm, and they turn around to gilt us.
Has anyone paused for a second to imagine if this has happened in Nigeria or Cote D’ivoire and the men are rather Ghanaians? We would have been praying for the soul of the innocent and law-abiding Ghanaians who immigrated to these countries. If just a soccer game between Asec Memosa and Asante Kotoko in Abidjan will end up with the loss of lives of more than hundred Ghanaians, then imagine a Ghanaian preying on poor innocent Nigerians/Ivorians, having sex and selling or posting it on the web. Ghanaian hospitality has been taken for granted for far too long and it’s about time and long overdue, that we stand up for ourselves, if the government cannot stand up for us.
I do not condone or promote violence, but every Ghanaian who was in Nigeria in the 70’s and 80’s can tell their stories and also tell how the police would have been going after every Ghanaian in town. I’m not proposing a reciprocatory action, but a peaceful method. It could start with the students in all our universities protesting the humiliation of Ghanaian women, until new laws are implemented for all international students. The least said about the Ghana Immigration Services the better. What laws do they have in place for all these immigrants? They are more interested in the bribes that goes into their deep pockets than implementing the flimsy weak laws in place. These Nigerian are trooping into Ghana and committing divergent forms of heinous crimes, easily bail themselves from the police with large sums of money and abscond back to Nigeria. It’s about time the government pulls the brakes on the influx of Nigerians into the country or makes the immigration laws unbearable for those who migrate with criminal intentions.
Muhammed S.S. Jawando (LRT) New York Presbyterian Hospital New York, NY
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