2,262 stranded Ghanaian domestic workers evacuated from Lebanon

Ghana’s ambassador to Egypt with a concurrent accreditation to Lebanon, Sudan and Palestine, Winfred Nii Okai Hammond has cautioned Ghanaians especially the youth against travelling to the Middle East with the hope of working to earn higher incomes.

This follows the evacuation of some 2,262 stranded Ghanaians from Lebanon.

The government spent over USD 1million to evacuate the stranded Ghanaians as part of measures to evacuate stranded citizens from the Middle East.

Majority of those evacuated were females who worked as domestic servants in Lebanese households.

They were made up of persons with various illnesses including nine mentally challenged persons. 

They arrived in the country in batches spanning from Friday, 19 June 2020 to Friday, 18 September 2020 after suffering various forms of abuse from their employers.

More than 80 percent of the evacuees had part of their accumulated salaries unpaid while 70 percent had their passports seized by their employees and Lebanese agents.

Speaking to the media on the evacuation exercise to rescue the stranded Ghanaians, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Charles Wiredu noted that a total of USD 1,062,600, was used for the exercise,  out of which, the government contributed USD634,150 while Member of Parliament(MP) for Assin Central Kennedy Agyepong and friends contributed USD428,450.

He revealed that: “Considering that majority of the girls were not paid any salaries, Travel Certificates (TCs) were issued free of charge instead of the usual USD35 fee.”

He further noted that the cost of testing for COVID-19 and 14-day quarantine and provision of psychological support for the evacuees was covered by the government.

Ghana’s Ambassador to Egypt with a concurrent accreditation to Lebanon, Sudan and Palestine, on his part indicated that the Ghana Mission in Cairo went into dialogue through its consulate in Beirut to ensure the release of the suffering Ghanaian women from their employers.

 Dr. Hammond also explained that staff of the Ghanaian Mission were deployed to Lebanon to assist those who were thrown out from their contract homes without salaries and personal effect with food, shelter, clothing, medical and hospital supplies.

He noted that so far, almost all the stranded Ghanaian domestic workers have been evacuated from Lebanon with the exception of 16 other persons who showed up after the process for evacuation had completed.

Also, there were four men among the Ghanaians who were evacuated.

He, however, noted that women make up the vast number of people who fall victim to these agents who promise them greener pastures in the Middle East.

He added that regardless government’s policy in 2017  disallowing such domestic migrant workers from travelling to the Gulf States, some still paid their way through the Kotoka International Airport while others went through neighbouring countries to fly to the Gulf.

 “The advent of the Covid-19 pandemic further aggravated the precarious situation of the domestic workers as their employers are unable to pay them their salaries, yet they dared not talk about their cumulated salaries but rather forced to work under very inhumane conditions.”

Source: classfmonline.com