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An Indonesian and Ethiopian ban on citizens travelling to work as maid
servants in the Middle Eastern countries has forced those countries to
shift their attention on young Ghanaian women seeking such
opportunities.
According to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), over 2,000 Ghanaian
women within a period of five months have travelled to the Gulf States
to seek greener pastures.
Most of the girls are reportedly serving as maid servants, are abused
while others are forced into prostitution.
The Director of a recruitment company – Dangaskiya Ventures, Alhaji
Mumin Sharif in an interview on theCiti Breakfast Showsaid the
development is not surprising.
He explained that Indonesia and Ethiopia which were major suppliers of
domestic servants have banned their girls from going to the Gulf
States to work as domestic servants.
This, he said, "has made the agents turn their attention to other
parts of Africa and they find the Ghanaians to be more civilized to
take over that position."
Alhaji Sharif acknowledged that the Gulf States are very fertile areas
for employment due to the rapid developments countries in the area
going through.
He was however to quick to add that although there are employment
opportunities, they exist for professionals; a qualification most
Ghanaian citizens leaving the country do not have.
"Our boys and girls who leave to these areas – unfortunately, most of
them are not from the professional side. The professionals are
gainfully employed and they have better opportunities and facilities
because they go according to the proper channel of migration."
Aljahi Sharif added that in the Gulf, domestic servants do not have a
strong regulatory body which supervises their operations and protects
their rights "and that leaves room for them to be abused."
"The countries are doing the best but the systems are not working very
well but as soon as a report is made that someone is being abused,
they take the steps to rectify the problem," he remarked.
The GIS is appealing to the general public and prospective travellers
to be wary of promises of lucrative job opportunities in the Gulf
States because it is unable to prevent people from departing Ghana
especially when they are adults and are in possession of the required
travel documents.
Credit: Citifmonline.com
