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Warning Ghanaians to leave Saudi Arabia is not the solution

Saudi Arabia Over 500 Ghanaians are expected to be repatriated from Saudi Arabia this year

Thu, 25 May 2017 Source: Peter Antwi Boasiako, London

I think the authorities in Ghana and Saudi's counterpart are missing the critical issue with regards to Ghanaians being maltreated in the Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, as slaves in disguise.

Some unscrupulous people in Ghana are making adverts all-over the map in telling everyone, especially the young ladies that, they have secured professional jobs in Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi, and in all these Arab countries.

They entice them with the job bates and attract the young ladies and men, then they secure what they called working-visors for them, and they take them to those countries. These are purely house-maid servants working visors.

When they get there, they already have customers waiting at the airports in those countries, who take them and pay off the agents huge money. What happens to these innocent vulnerable young ladies and men after that is something seriously despicable.

Their owners seize their passports, and use them like slaves, their sons rape some of them and kill those they want, cut them into pieces and hide them in bin bags for the bin trucks to take them away. This is a serious matter and it's been going on for long time now.

This is what is happening to our young women from Ghana and other African countries working in those Arab countries.

Telling those in Saudi Arabia to leave or those without documents to leave is not actually the full solution because some are already there who have some kind of working-visas but are being used as slaves.

Look, a Ghanaian lady who was a trained nurse in Ghana contacted me through Facebook from one of the Arab Countries and narrated the ordeals they're going through in Kuwait. How they're raping them, killing them and are being kept on their feet to work more than 14 hours/day throughout the week as house maids. It's just horrible.

She said an Agent tricked them of a nursing job in Kuwait and sold them as house-maids when they got there. With some help, the lady is now back to Ghana safely about 11 months ago.

Am sure some of you have seen their videos or heard their tapes of the ladies (Ghanaians) complaining of the maltreatments they are going through in those Arab countries.

What I think the government of Ghana should do is to pursue all these so-called Agents in Ghana, stop their adverts on radios, scrutinise their activities and cause them to trace those Ghanaians they tricked with secured jobs, secured visas for them and have taken them to those countries. These Agents are crooks and are carrying out open adverts on radio stations all over Ghana, no one is questioning their activities, upon all these complaints....

Some adverts are even promising the young graduates with scholarships and pocket monies to further their education there, which are all lies.

In fact, sometimes I listen to the radio stations in Ghana and hear some things happening, and I find it difficult to believe why some people use all kinds of dubious means to get money from their fellow poor human beings and feel no compunction about it.

Those Arab countries embassies in Ghana should stop giving mass visas to all these crook Agents. They are the problem.

Now that people are complaining loudly of the enslavements and the maltreatments in those countries, they announced that those with or without proper documents should leave Saudi Arabia. How did they get there? They should leave to where? What about those who have the so-called working-visas but are being forced to do what slaves do?

For some time now, when I listen to the adverts run on Ghana radio stations, I ask myself, why? It's like everyone in Ghana is kind of sick one way or the other. At every minute, there's an advert of some medicines that cures this, cures that and what have you. There's this lady who appears on Peace and Okay FM, she is so obsessed with this advert of Genicure 442, saying Genicure 442, “ema akosua kuma mu kye rough, take 4 in the morning, 4 in the afternoon and 2 in the evening, enoaa nono”., There are adverts for medicines to get big breast, ejaculation medicines, black power, Abrukusu, esi ho potii, etc, and all kinds of local herbal medicines ‘naansense’. All these ‘naansense’, why, is everybody in Ghana sick or what? Aaabah.

Columnist: Peter Antwi Boasiako, London