Why This Mistreatment And/Or Secret Killings Of Ghanaian Maids In The Gulf States?

The systemic mistreatment and unlawful secret killings of African maids in general and Ghanaian maids in particular, in the Gulf States, is becoming much of a great concern warranting international investigation and condemnation. The Gulf States are Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The mistreatment and intentional killing of these innocent but vulnerable people by their cruel rich employers for the least or no offence committed is too obnoxious and beggars belief.

The Saudis are the worst of all yet, Islam, a religion that preaches love and admonishes the show of concern and care for the poor originated from their country. They believe in Allah and Prophet Mohammed yet, some of them mistreat and kill innocent law-abiding poor people come to their country to seek a better life by doing decent jobs. What a bunch of hypocrites they are in the faith that they submit to?

They have petroleum so they are filthy rich to have their way in everything, even to the point of killing and enslaving innocent poor African maids. However, they have forgotten that death also awaits them at a point in their life. Again, they have forgotten that petroleum could be an exhaustible commodity. They have further forgotten that there is a time and season for everything and that time changes.

It is pointless for me dwelling on chastising these Arabs that have no respect for the Blackman or Black African. I will rather turn the guns on my fellow African or Ghanaian leaders, the cause of all the ills the African suffers throughout the world. Most of our leaders, if not all of them, are corrupt, incompetent, lack farsightedness and inept at handling situations of critical concern like that of our enslaved, tortured, and murdered Ghanaian maids in the Gulf States.

If they had not misappropriated public funds as if tomorrow never comes, and continue to deplete the public coffers for their selfish ends, Africa which is naturally endowed with rich minerals, fertile lands, forests etc., wouldn’t have her sons and daughters so poor to want to migrate to seek greener pastures in the Gulf States only to end up meeting their worst nightmares.

Again, is it worth apportioning blame to our leaders or among our highly-placed but inherently corrupt Civil Service officials at this crucial life or death situation scarily faced by our fellow Ghanaian sisters unfortunately found themselves in the Gulf States instead of prescribing solutions?

Is it not said in an Akan proverb that the moment you cut off the head of a snake, the rest of its body is a rope? Subsequently, I shall suggest in the order of importance as following to dealing with the murderous situation in which our dear sisters, daughters and nieces do find themselves in in the land of plenty but abounds in wicked employers.

1. The government must as a matter of urgency suspend the licences of all the recruitment agencies in Ghana involved in recruiting these females promised better lives but only to be faced with slavery, mistreatment and death on arrival in the Gulf States.

2. The offices of the agencies must be raided to obtain evidence to how many people they have sent to which of the Gulf States and when and who employed them on their arrival.

3. The agencies failing to disclose the requested vital information must face prosecution for human trafficking, deceitful employment and purposeful enslavement of fellow Ghanaians abroad.

4. The Ghana media houses advertising for the recruitment agencies must instantly be obliged to cease airing such advertisements or face joint prosecution with the recruitment agencies for aiding and abetting crime. The owners of the radio stations, TV stations, and the newspapers that carry the advertisements must have the moral obligation to assist with stopping the plight faced by our loved ones in the Gulf States by ceasing to air or publish any further recruitment advertisements for the agencies.

5. The embassies of the affected Gulf States in Ghana must be officially notified about the plight of our citizens in their countries. The government must not be scared to raise our concerns about the catastrophic situation of the Ghanaian or African maids in their countries with them.

6. The issue must be flagged to the international bodies like the United Nations, Amnesty International, Office of the Human Rights Court, the European Union etc. (I shall be able to do this provided a few of the instances captured on video could find their way on to the YouTube as I will have to attach such web links as evidence).

7. With the location of the victims known as may have been disclosed by the recruitment agencies, arrangement must be made as quickly as possible to get the suffering Ghanaians or Africans out of the said rich but wicked nations.

8. The videos on the plight of the maids must be shown on our national, regional and private television stations to highlight why Ghanaians should not be enticed by the richness of these States only to end up in total misery and death at the hands of wicked rich men and women.

9. The videos on the fate of our maids in the Gulf States must be shown to the students of our Junior Secondary School, Senior High School and Universities who must spread them or carry the news to their cities, towns and villages. They must be requested to pass the news on to their families and the people they know to persuade them not to fall victims to selfish criminals who visit them with promises to secure better life for their young daughters and sisters in the Gulf States only to have them thrown into slavery, mistreatment and untimely death.

10. Radio stations or the media as a whole must join in to disseminate the information on the plight of our Ghanaian/African maids in the Gulf States. They should let the public understand that all that glitters is not gold. With the abundance of wealth in the Gulf States, most people there have not human hearts but are overflowing with sheer wickedness.

Is it not said money is the root cause of all evil? Because they are rich, they think they can get away with blue murder; they can do whatever they like when they want with impunity. God is not asleep, He is watching them and what goes around comes around. Inshah Allah!

This must be an all hands on deck job to stop or save our dear ones from further abuses and killings under the hands of these heartless rich Saudis, Kuwaitis, etc. This must invigorate our resolve to stop our leaders from further embezzling public monies so as to free money for the development of our countries to create jobs for citizens to stop them from being deceitfully lured into their painful and untimely death in the lands of plenty but teeming with heartless super rich individuals.

Rockson Adofo
(Written on Monday, 29 May 2017)