Tuesday,
July 15, 2014
News reports that the number of
Ghanaians renouncing their Ghanaian citizenship and re-engineering themselves
as citizens of other countries don’t surprise me at all. Naturalization is a
common practice that will persist for as long as human beings migrate from one
region to the other, motivated by diverse reasons, and become convinced that
the new circumstances in which they find themselves can help them realize their
aspirations. Nothing can stop it and anybody raising alarm over what has just
been revealed in the case of Ghanaians will be wasting time.
The Ministry of the Interior has revealed that about 817 Ghanaians
renounced their citizenship in 2013 while 39 foreigners applied to be
Ghanaians. According to the Ministry, 538 applied for German citizenship, 233 for
Dutch, 32 for Norwegian, 7 for Danish, 5 for Austrian, and 1 for Hong Kongian and
Chinese citizenship each. Out of the 817, females numbered 450 and males 367. This
revelation was made in Accra on Monday when the Ministry took its turn in the
meet-the-press series addressed by the sector Minister, Kwesi Ahwoi.
(See: http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2014/July-15th/817-ghanaians-renounce-their-citizenship.php)
Nothing was said about other countries, especially the United
States, Canada, Britain, Germany, and the Arab world, which attract Ghanaians.
The fact is that Ghanaians are leaving the country in drones, going wherever
their personal compasses will direct them n search for the beacon of hope to
make it in life.
Neither has the Ministry considered the other aspects such as
Ghanaians seeking higher education/professional training and not wanting to
return home to serve the country (Thousands all over the world). Many factors account
for this situation.
Why are they doing so in droves? Your guess will be as good as
mine. As the Ministry of the Interior put it, “The Ghanaians stated among other
things, good economic conditions, high wages and salaries and other incentives
associated with their profession in their countries of choice as reasons for
their exit from Ghana.” Certainly, factors motivating the renunciation of their
Ghanaian citizenship include better service conditions; but there is more to
the matter.
And they are highly skilled professionals (health workers, doctors
and all those who find it very easy to work anywhere but their own country of
origin). The Director of Migration at the Ministry of the Interior, David
Agorsor, described the situation as “alarming”.
Renouncing Ghanaian citizenship shouldn’t
be alarming. What should alarm us are the factors that catalyze the emigration
and consequent decision to renounce Ghanaian citizenship. And these factors are
enormous:
(1)
The
general malaise in the Ghanaian system spawns horrible service conditions that won’t
encourage those with skills to remain in the country when they know they can
earn better remuneration elsewhere.
(2)
The mismanagement
of affairs by the authorities appalls those who know better how to actualize
their dreams.
(3)
Government’s
failure to provide a congenial atmosphere for those with skills to serve their
country is disgusting. We take account of the spate of industrial actions that
continue to be taken in pursuit of better remuneration and condemn the
government for its laziness.
(4)
The
Ghanaian attitude of looking for the fruit of labour and not putting in labour
to generate it (the easy-way-out) is a major aspect of the attitudinal problems
that drive the brain-drain, leading to one’s not wanting to remain a Ghanaian
citizen once outside the country.
(5)
Lack
of support from the institutions of state, which frustrates both skilled and
unskilled Ghanaians who must make ends meet no matter where they may be.
(6)
Scholarships
not offered and supported (e.g., Cuban students’ experience)—no motivation to
return home after seeing better things elsewhere. The Ghanaian who knows what
to do to survive elsewhere will do everything possible to acquire a new status.
(7)
No
plan to accommodate Ghanaians with skills who may want to return home. We know
that other systems that can use the skills of Ghanaians will readily
accommodate their interests and grab them.
(8)
The government
is lazy and lacks the vision to create a labour pool to attract Ghanaians with
professional skills. Other countries know how to do things. For instance, China
sends 400,000 of its students to the US for training annually so they can
return home and join the labour pool; India does so to cope with the demands of
outsourcing.
(9)
No programme
to “sell” the labour of skilled Ghanaians, contrary to what other countries do.
For instance, Egypt benefits from its citizens working outside and contributing
their quota of earnings toward national development as a national network
exists to accommodate the interests of those citizens working outside.
(10)
What
has become of the dual citizenship initiative that could help Ghanaians shuttle
between home and abroad as dual citizens? Nothing!! The government is not being
honest in its dealings with the citizens and will not help solve problems with
this kind of duplicity.
Folks, there are many other reasons to explain and justify the trend. Ghanaians will do anything
they can to realize their ambitions in life if conditions at home remain
hostile and repellent. I don’t blame anybody choosing to renounce his or her
Ghanaian citizenship because naturalization is a given. Those who want to go
where their aspirations take them should do so without any inhibition. After
all, this world is not our home; we are just passing through as sojourners.
If the government really wants to ensure that Ghanaians remain
Ghanaians, then, it should do its best to solve problems and build structures
to accommodate them. Otherwise, no amount of scare-mongering with the kind of
revelation made by the Ministry of the Interior will deter Ghanaians from
renouncing their Ghanaian citizenship.
As I have once said, there is no part of the world where one will
go without coming across a Ghanaian; and that Ghanaian will do anything at all
within his or her means to serve that particular system, provided that service
will be appreciated and accommodation made for him or her. That is what is
lacking in Ghana, which infuriates. Service to one’s country often turns out to
be one’s undoing. Who will want to remain in such a system? Not those who know
where they can get their bread buttered.
The unfortunate sequel, though, is that as Ghanaians leave their
country, other foreign nationals fill the gap and do things with impunity, as
the Chinese undesirables are doing without any attempt by the government to
deal with them. The time will come when Ghanaians will become second-class
citizens in their own country, thanks to our leaders’ incompetence and lack of
vision. Let those who don’t want to be Ghanaians anymore go their way. Only
those in charge of affairs not solving the problems facilitating the
renunciation of Ghanaian citizenship will be alarmed. And they are a mockery!!
Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeaaa!!
I shall return…
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E-mail:
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