Poor leadership, a lack of work prospects, and economic hardship have been cited by some Ghanaian youth as reasons why some young people risk their lives by traveling to the Gulf States and other nations via dubious ways.
There have been multiple accounts of Ghanaians reflecting on and sharing the terrifying picture of the tragedies faced by female migrant workers in the Gulf States.
These people are promised rich positions and other perks by their agents, but when they arrive, the story is quite different.
In 2016, 16,367 Ghanaians departed the country for the Gulf region, according to the Ghana Immigration Service. Between November 2015 and February 2016, over 5,400 Ghanaians were believed to have departed the country for the same location. According to the statistics, around 4,100 of them were ladies.
It also revealed that more than 4,000 of them traveled to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, with the remainder destined for Iraq, Qatar, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Oman.
Those who have been able to travel complain of excessive hours of work, imbalanced meals, and mistreatment by their employers.
Adjoa Mansa (not her real name), a Ghanaian woman currently residing in Kurdistan, told Frontline that her sister promised her a lucrative job, but when she arrived in the country, the sister informed her that she had an agreement with an agent who sponsored her travel, and she would have to work as a maid to pay off the debt.
Rainbow Radio enabled listeners to share their stories as part of a campaign to raise awareness about the issue, and some of the comments received chastised Ghanaian politicians for failing to address the issue of unemployment.
They believe that if our leaders do not address the problem, young people will continue to risk their lives by traveling through life-threatening means.
