COVID-19: Govt Handling Of Stranded Ghanaians Abroad Shameful – Ablakwa

The Ranking Member on Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has described as shameful the manner and way government is handling the issue of Ghanaians stranded abroad.

According to him, the Kuwaiti incident shows a serious lapse on the part of the government in responding to the needs of its citizens abroad.

“This should be our collective shame. We can do better as a nation in reaching out to our own,” the MP said in a Citi News interview.

Mr. Ablakwa added that it was “really unpardonable that for all these weeks, the government is now talking about collating names and collating data. The Kuwait story should be a wakeup call.”

He was speaking after over 240 Ghanaian deportees from Kuwait touched down in Ghana over the weekend.

Mr. Ablakwa noted that it shouldn't have taken an act of deportation by the Kuwaiti Government at the expense of the Kuwaiti taxpayer for the Ghanaians to be brought back home.

A number of Ghanaians are currently stranded in other parts of the world following the COVID-19 induced border closure in ghana.

Some Ghanaians stranded in South Africa, are also calling on the government to negotiate with the South African government to make valid, return tickets they purchased prior to the closure of Ghana’s borders.

According to them, any plans by the government to make them foot the bills of a chartered flight will be at an unbearable cost to them.

“We have our tickets. We are asking the government to come and helps us and evacuate and be ready to sort our tickets out. That is exactly what we are talking about,” one of them said to Citi News.

Another was very upset with the government saying any intervention was already too late.

“We had stayed and we have paid rent and we have wasted all the money we have on us and now countries are about to open borders and now the government is now bringing a chartered flight to come evacuate us. That is a no. They should rather allow us to die here,” he fumed.

On May 8, a Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Charles Owiredu said Ghanaians who are stranded abroad following border restrictions imposed in the country will soon receive assistance from the government.

He said his outfit was frantically putting in place measures to ensure that such an agenda is executed.

---citinewsroom