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The maltreatment of Ghanaian workers must stop

By Ghanaian Chronicle
Editorial The maltreatment of Ghanaian workers must stop
MAR 14, 2017 LISTEN

The Abeka Magistrate Court in Accra has remanded into police custody, Jihad Chaaban, the Lebanese supervisor of the Abelenkpe branch of Marwako Fast Foods, who allegedly splashed blended pepper on the face of a Ghanaian worker, Evelyn Boakye.

The court rejected a plea from the lawyers of the accused to grant him bail, after Chaaban had pleaded not guilty to three counts of assault, offensive conduct and causing harm, when he appeared before the court on Wednesday, and remanded him to reappear on Thursday, March 16.

Chaaban is alleged to have forced the face of Evelyn Boakye into blended hot pepper on Sunday, February 26, after which he locked her up to prevent her from receiving help, because he alleged that she spoilt a blender she was using to grind the pepper.

The Chronicle is very much interested in the case, and as such, would follow it to its logical conclusion, to see what the outcome of the whole episode would be.

This is, because, this is not the first time such an incident, where an expatriate supervisor or superior officer of a foreign company has subjected a Ghanaian worker to such cruel treatment in the country, has occurred.

Without traveling deep into the past, there are recent incidents where such inhuman treatments have been meted out to some Ghanaians.

The Chief Executive Officer of Peterpan Restaurant, a Korean eatery operating in Accra, Young Gyu Lee, was charged recently with assault by police in Accra for allegedly slapping one of his Ghanaian employees with hot pizza.

Another incident is where an employee of Gateway Logistics was chained to a tree weeks ago by his Italian supervisor, Manlio Maggiorotto, for loitering around during working hours.

It is refreshing, however, to hear that Gender Minister Otiko Afisa Djaba has ordered a probe into the inhumane treatment inflicted on Evelyn Boakye by her Marwako Lebanese supervisor.

The Labour Minister, Ignatius Baffuor Awuah is also said to have issued a one-week deadline for a report on the incident.

Meanwhile, The Chronicle is reminding Otiko Djaba that this incident should be a test case for her and her party to see the government's readiness to handle human rights cases during its tenure.

We, at The Chronicle, do not know how the first two maltreatment cases ended, but we insist that government must get to the bottom of this one, not only to hand a kid's glove punishment to Chaaban, if he is found guilty, but most importantly, he must be jailed in a Ghanaian prison to serve as a deterrent to others.

We believe that one of the major reasons why Ghanaian workers are are subjected to such inhuman treatment by their foreign bosses is the way we handle such cases when they come before the authorities: we must enforce our investment laws.

It is sad to note that in Ghana today, when a foreigner and a Ghanaian are involved in a case, the foreigner always invariably walks home a free person, while the Ghanaian counterpart gets put in the cooler.

Foreigners do whatever they like, and most of the time, they go scot free. Consequently, it has emboldened them to mete out whatever kind of treatment they like to their Ghanaian workers, knowing very well that at the end of the day, they are likely to walk home free.

The Akans say, “While advising the cat, do well to also advise the salted fish.” It is in line with this that we are advising our brothers and sisters to work diligently when they are employed, whether by government or private companies.

Our worry stems from the fact that sometimes, when you visit certain companies, especially the receptions, and see how some of our Ghanaian ladies laze about, and even the way they handle customers of the company, it leaves much to be desired.

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