The zeal with which Ghanaians
participate in the US Diversity Visa Lottery and the length to which some go to
desert the country is amazing.
Some have fallen prey to visa
racketeers and been duped of huge sums of money meant for visa arrangements yet
remain undaunted in their determination to leave the country. Others have
managed to pay their way out of the country only to regret later. They realize
rather too late that they would have been better off staying in the frying pan
than jumping right into the fire below.
No matter what it is, there is
something to ponder. Is it not ironical or paradoxical that while Ghanaians are
doing all they can to move out of the country in search of greener pastures
elsewhere, other nationals are rushing into the country to set themselves up?
What is it that is driving
Ghanaians out of their own country? What is it that is attracting those
nationals but dispersing/repelling Ghanaians, forcing them into other countries
where their conditions may not be any better?
Where I am, I come across all
manner of Ghanaians everyday who volubly complain about the state of affairs in
which they have found themselves. I am also resident outside the country and
know what I miss.
There are the young men and women
(mostly without valid immigration status), the middle aged and steady (who wish
they hadn’t been hasty in making the move), and the senile and weak (who have
now rued the rashness that has turned them into debile wretches after wasting
away their youthful years toiling abroad only to realize at the end of the
tunnel that what they saw all along was not the light to improve their
conditions but the light from a speeding train rushing to crush them).
Why did all these people choose
to leave the country? Ask them, and you will get tons of reasons to lose sleep
over. One thing is clear: they seem to be stuck between the devil and the deep
blue sea, unable to make a decent living where they are now and haunted by the
challenges of returning home!
Oh, Ghana man!! Is the Ghanaian
so shortsighted as not to see the treasures around him/her in the country and
will choose to leave them behind for other nationals to exploit?
I have in mind the countless
number of Nigerians, Chinese, Ivorians, Liberians, Burkinabe, Jamaicans,
African Americans and-what-have-you who have now found a solace in Ghana and
set themselves up.
Let’s just take the Chinese
nationals, for instance, to exemplify this situation. We will do so in the
light of the recent official action against a group of 35 Chinese who were
identified as flouting the laws of the country and taken through some grilling
or deportation, which angered the Chinese government into warning their
Ghanaian counterparts to exercise restraint in dealing with Chinese nationals
living in Ghana or face the consequences.
The Chinese government’s warning
annoyed me, but upon realizing how the Atta Mills government virtually opened
the sluices to the Chinese by panhandling for Chinese loans—which I don’t think
Ghana has yet received, anyway—I couldn’t help but appreciate that warning.
That panhandling brought about
the influx of these Chinese nationals. After all, it must be a quid pro quo
arrangement. We didn’t have any cause to worry about the influx of the Chinese into
the country until our own government opened the window of opportunity for them.
Now, they are here and have stuck to us like leeches.
With a population of over 1.6
billion people, China might be more than happy to shed off its burden to other
systems that would be ignorant enough to lure them in. That is our problem. Our
leaders have gone to dine with the devil and brought bad luck to stain us.
I hear these Chinese immigrants
are the worst fortune seekers. They are ubiquitous, doing all kinds of things
to survive or make life good for themselves.
I hear they are in the retail
sector, selling everything they either bring along from home or import into
Ghana, using their connections and contact people—who are mostly Ghanaians
fronting for them—to circumvent the laws on the retail sector that prohibit
foreigners like them from economic activities reserved for Ghanaians.
I have had cause to know how much
the Chinese are doing in the galamsey sector also. They are all over the place
(in the Amansie and Akyem Abuakwa areas, just to mention a few), exploring and
prospecting for gold and other precious minerals.
Some are said to have brought in
equipment to facilitate their galamsey operations, teaming up with Ghanaians to
do so with impunity.
Others are said to be roasting
corn and plantains, positioning themselves by the roadside to sell to hungry
Ghanaians. Some are in the restaurant business, roasting/preparing tilapia and
selling to Ghanaians.
Some of them also go into
unorthodox practices, particularly prostitution. In effect, the Chinese are
gradually establishing themselves in Ghana as economic vampires. Should we
blame them for seeing and doing what Ghanaians can’t?
As is to be expected, they are
doing so because they can make it there while Ghanaians look on and up to the
government to provide everything for them, creating the impression that “life
is hard in the country.”
Is it because Ghanaians are lazy
or just that they have become so despondent as to lose their bearings and sense
of purpose in life? Or because they can’t see the treasures surrounding them?
Or because they have placed
themselves at the mercy of the wily politicians for the manna that they
effusively promise but fail to deliver after the general elections?
While the Chinese are at it, others
such as Nigerians, are fast integrating into the Ghanaian system. Let’s not
talk about the Fulani menace.
Most Ghanaians that I have spoken
to about the influx of these foreigners are unhappy that the authorities aren’t
doing anything to clamp down on them or to ensure that they don’t dislodge
Ghanaians from their traditional economic ventures.
The high cost of land in many
areas has been attributed to the activities of these foreigners who pay lots of
money to the chiefs to acquire large tracts of land to the chagrin of their
Ghanaian counterparts who can’t afford such landed property.
Others are quick to attribute the
high incidence of anti-social behaviour such as armed robbery, rape, murder,
and cyber-crimes (whether the 419 or Sakawa scam) to these foreigners.
Heated arguments that I have run
into about these developments indicate that Ghanaians aren’t happy about the
influx of these foreigners. They are particularly unhappy that the government
isn’t doing anything to control the menace or to enforce existing laws to clamp
down on their nefarious activities.
Some are quick to blame
Parliament for not being proactive enough to tackle the problem. To them, the
laxity that exists in officialdom is part of the problem.
Those who can’t wait anymore for any
official intervention have their own solutions. They want to physically
eliminate these foreigners whom they consider as social pests. From their
perspective, making the environment hostile for them would be a good way to
discourage any more influx. I foresee danger here.
Those talking about an ECOWAS
protocol on free movement or the fact that the ECOWAS arrangement allows for
what is happening want the government to act cautiously so as not to provoke
any reprisal attacks on Ghanaians in other countries.
It is clear from the inability of
the authorities to streamline affairs that the mechanisms for controlling
immigration into the country or for regulating the economic activities of
foreigners have broken down.
Talk about the regulation on
“Immigrant Quota” that the Ministry of the Interior is mandated to enforce and
you will hit a brick wall. That regulation exists only on paper that has
gathered dust on shelves.
How about the Immigration Service?
It doesn’t know what to do. Our borders are completely broken and all manner of
foreigners easily enter the country to do things as they like with impunity.
Ghana is a beacon which attracts
foreigners. Ironically, that same beacon holds no prospect for its citizens;
hence, the persistent efforts by them to leave for other countries in the hope
of making it big. What is it that our country lacks? Nothing but effective
leadership. That’s the main cause of our plight.
As we prepare for the elections,
no one is talking about these issues and how to tackle them. All we hear are
promises based on figments of imagination. All of these power-hungry
politicians are targeting the new milk cow in the nature of the oil industry
from where they think enough money will be generated to support their grandiose
self-serving ambitions.
I pity them and the people who
will vote for them. But I won’t be surprised because those who vote seem not to
know that the major problems that have kept them pinned down in narrow
circumstances over the years are created by these very people that they put in
power.
Then, when they can no more cope
with the harsh reality, they do all they can to seek visas to emigrate into the
world beyond only to realize that “nowhere cool.” The proverbial expression
that “Ghanaians are magicians” (because of how they survive in narrow
circumstances) may be true; but they also portray a deeply worrying aspect of
themselves. They are good specimens for some serious scientific experiment to
determine what they are made of—suffering untold hardship in the midst of plenty.
Mysterious, isn’t so?
- E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
·
Join
me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor
No comments:
Post a Comment