Stop The Recruitments

In yesterday's edition of DAILY GUIDE, a disturbing story of the alleged murder of a Ghanaian heavy duty driver in Damman, Saudi Arabia, was carried.

The driver, who appeared to have been engaged through one of the many recruitment agencies in Accra, left behind a wife and three children. Death would come when it would but when it does so under the circumstances in which Ibrahim Tahiru the driver died, there is cause for action.

His maltreatment by his Arab employers represents what most Ghanaian workers suffer when they are recruited to go and work in the Middle East and the Gulf regions.

Those who depart Ghanaian soil after being made to pay part of their fares with the promise of a refund when they arrive in their final destinations, in most cases, regret their decisions.

The average Arab has a negative impression about blacks, their stereotypical thoughts directing how they treat us. For them we are nothing but hewers of wood and drawers of water – slaves.

It is our position that government should show ample interest in how Ghanaians are recruited for so-called good jobs in Saudi Arabia and other places in that region.

In the case of the Ghanaian driver under review, we have learnt about the inhuman treatment meted out to him shortly after the accident in which he was involved.

His insistence not to share the cost of repairing the truck with the company led to his kidnapping and the eventual discovery of his remains in the desert. This demands a thorough investigation but in a country like Saudi Arabia where nationals are always right in cases involving them and foreigners, what can we expect from this case?

There have been many instances to support this assertion. A few years ago, a Ghanaian high court judge lost his life after he was knocked down by a vehicle during the Hajj. The deceased was left to lie there for sometime before being attended to. An emanating report was anything but acceptable.

We are pleased though that in the case of Ibrahim Tahiru, the Ghanaian envoy in that country has given an assurance that when the post mortem report is out he would press for compensation for the family.

It is regrettable that little or nothing by way of a sanction would be slapped on whoever is responsible for the untimely death of the driver, he being a foreigner.

We call on relevant non-governmental organisations and opinion leaders to mount a campaign that would educate Ghanaians about the dangers that await them in Arab countries when they decide to go and work there.

We also call on both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and the Saudi Arabia Embassy in Ghana to show interest in this case and the general plight of Ghanaians who go to work in Saudi Arabia.

As for the women and how they are exploited sexually by their employers in Saudi Arabia, the least said about it the better. Suffice it to point out that a national forum on the subject can stop others from risking their lives.