By Naa Shormei Odonkor
Koforidua (E/R), Aug. 29, GNA – Mr Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng, Chief Executive Officer of Crime Check Foundation (CCF), says his organisation is working with stakeholders to ensure the safe deportation of Ghanaian migrants detained by authorities in Dubai for various travel infractions.
“Crime Check Foundation will continue the advocacy while drawing government’s attention to them because they are Ghanaians and even if they have broken the law, we cannot allow them to be camped in there,” he said.
Mr. Kwargteng, who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, added that the Foundation was working closely with philanthropists and other stakeholders to ensure the safe return of Ghanaians stuck in Dubai, noting that many people were unaware of their plight.
He also cautioned Ghanaians to take precautions and to be aware that it was against the law to enter another country without proper documentation and that many people, including other African nationals, were suffering in other countries where they had hoped to find greener pastures.
A total of 431 Ghanaians, including pregnant women, have been detained at the Al Tawadi Medical and Immigration Centre, while awaiting deportation from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
A substantial portion of them had travelled there in search of employment opportunities to send money home to support their families.
Mr. Kwargteng said preliminary investigations showed that the detained included pregnant women and young children under the age of three, who were allegedly conned into accepting jobs in the United Arab Emirates by travelling agents in Ghana.
However, when they arrived in Dubai, the agents left them stranded without any of the job opportunities they had promised, or with insufficient funds, and no place to stay and no return passports.
He noted that it appeared the travel and tour agents who took the migrants to Dubai provided them with one to three-month visas with the hope that their fictitious companies would get them a two-year visa.
He quoted multiple sources as saying that they were not allowed to move out of their detention rooms, making life unbearable for the travelers, and that their health was at stake as some had begun coughing.
Although the Ghanaian Consulate-General, the sources said had visited the migrants at their centre three days after they were detained, efforts were being made to get feedback on the deportation situation.
Mr Kwarteng observed that Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other Arabian countries were also places that some Ghanaians could also be found stranded.
He wondered why many Ghanaians would allow themselves to be swindled by travel and tour agents and noted that the money paid to the agents could be used as capital to start a business in Ghana.
Later this month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration issued a press release stating that the government was making the necessary preparations in coordination with UAE authorities for the evacuation of the trapped Ghanaians.
In efforts to safeguard their welfare, it was stated that the Ghanaian Consulate-General in Dubai was coordinating with the local authorities on the situation.
It also stated that the Interior and National Security Ministries were “taking urgent action to deal with the activities of unnegotiated agencies.”
The Crime Check Foundation is a group that advocates crime prevention and uses documentaries about life inside prison to educate the public about the risks associated with crime.
GNA