The stranded Ghanaian youth are said to have been charged between GH¢8,000 and GH¢15,000 each to obtain travel documents and visas for their trips.

Track down

Briefing journalists in Accra on Tuesday as part of his weekly encounter with the media, the Minister of Information, Mr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, said the security agencies were tracking down the recruitment agencies and the travel and tour companies involved in sending young people to the Gulf Region, especially Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

He explained that the recruitment agencies solicited the assistance of travel and tour operators, who acted as sponsors of the visa applications for a fee, adding that the visas secured were tourist visas that were only valid for three months.

“On their arrival in Dubai, a corresponding agent takes charge and requests for an additional 1,000 dirhams, the equivalent of $272.25, to cover accommodation for one month, while the job seeker is left alone to embark on a job search, contrary to the promise of an assured job,” the minister said.

He added that given that the validity of UAE tourist visas expired within three months, most of the victims were unable to secure work within the period and thereby became illegal immigrants.

Assurance

Mr Abdul-Hamid gave an assurance that Ghana’s Consulate-General in Dubai had been in regular contact with the stranded Ghanaians and was working to get them the necessary support to return home.

“We wish to take the opportunity to remind Ghanaians that the ban on the exportation of labour from Ghana to the Gulf Region is still in place,” he added.

According to the minister, the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, in collaboration with the ministries of Foreign Affairs, the Interior and Gender, Children and Social Protection, was working to ensure that bilateral agreements were reached between Ghana and states in the Gulf Region before the ban was lifted.

ECOWAS meeting

Touching on the fifth Presidential Meeting on the ECOWAS single currency programme today, Mr Abdul-Hamid said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo would chair the meeting, which would be attended by the Presidents of Cote d’Ivoire, Niger and Nigeria.

He indicated that as part of measures to ensure a common currency for the ECOWAS zone, the sub-region adopted a road map in May 2009, with key deadlines meant to ensure the operation of a common currency for the ECOWAS zone by 2020.

The ECOWAS Presidential Task Force was set up in January 2014, through a decision of the ECOWAS Heads of State, with the task of supervising the process of introducing the single currency.

The task force was expanded to include Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire in 2016.

Picketing graduates

The minister also addressed the issue of graduate nurses picketing at the Ministry of Health last Monday, demanding of the government to post them immediately to begin work in health institutions.

He appealed to the aggrieved graduates to discontinue the picketing and go home, while the government worked hard to get them placed,

Mr Abdul-Hamid said upon the assumption of office in January 2017, the government met a backlog of graduates from 2012 to 2015, majority of whom the new government managed to absorb.

“More than 16,000 of those who graduated between 2012 and 2015 have been engaged,” he said.

He further submitted that provision was made in the 2018 budget for the recruitment of 32,000 health personnel, of which 27,000 were for various categories of nursing.

The minister equally assured nurses who graduated from private training institutions from 2012 to 2016 that they also deserved some consideration and that the government was currently capturing their data in order to engage them too.

“This is being done with the 2016 batch of graduates from government institutions in view. We are, therefore, appealing to them, while also assuring them, that we are working to get them engaged as soon as our validation processes are complete,” Mr Abdul-Hamid said.