Labour - Selling it overseas is not a cheap business

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It may be true that “in The Philippines, for example, labour export was the second highest foreign exchange earner.” Could this be true for Ghana and under what conditions?

Here again there should be clear cut rules of engagement. It has not been there. The transparency is very questionable.

Who, which, when, what and how? Are all questions that have not seen the light of day and have al not been answered by the Minister. Is this a directive principle of state policy endorsed by parliament?

How did they pay to go to Qatar? Was it by the government or privately? What does the government gain from its involvement sourcing and for external private interests of Rahman Consultancy or Rahman Ventures and officials of Al-Jabar, with the use of the public sector limited resources. All these must be spelt out.

Now if the minister is trying to relate what they have done to that of Philippines then I am afraid he is going to be in a different terrain for accountability.

The fact is these people will fall under a label that is well defined, tested and should be seen to have passed the scrutiny since there are serious insurance, health, work safety and social security implications for any government who seeks to be a partner in such a deal.

I have once suggested in a write-up on “ghanaweb” sometime ago that such people are to be called overseas Ghanaian workers (OGWs). Everyone in Ghana from the TUC/labour unions, families of the workers, civil society and the international community will be waiting patiently to read the report of the fact finding committee from Doha, Qatar

My impression though, is that the right things are being done if the press is meeting in the presence of “the Deputy Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Dr Charles Brimpong-Yeboah, the Director of Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr Okoampah Archer, and the acting Director of the Middle East and Asia Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Co-operation and NEPAD, Mr Christian Baeta.”

If the Minister of Employment has done his homework he will realise the this classification for Ghanaian workers if its to follow the 'Philippine model,' then a lot more work need to be done.

In terms of how much they are paid, living conditions, taxes and how much the government is to chalk and all these should transparent and be reported openly in the newspapers.

In the mean time all with all that have been said what are the qualifications? The fact is I have also just returned from Qatar on a personal investigation. It is clear that the monthly wage is just some $350. They work on very dangerous jobs.

They are being fed on rice and all the good things that the Minister has just said but the truth of the matter is that these recruits are not working in their fields of expertise. They have to cook for themselves after a hard days work. It is also very difficult to get to shopping centres or even any market to buy what they wanted.

It is out of desperation that highly qualified individuals have found themselves trapped or are going to be trapped in this predicament while their spouses and children are home alone.

They of course will be settled probably after three months after which they have just eight months to confidently work. They have supposedly and a year contract, during which the last month is leave and will not be recruited until in the second year of break.

In effect you will become unemployed once again during which period you would have saved just a thousand dollars if you have a family back home. If you consider being unemployed for a whole year it may not be work the trouble.

The truth of the matter is that in the case of the Philippines they comply with the rules, regulations and laws of the partner countries and those of UN/ILO are strictly adhered to.

So let’s now come to the case of Ghana. Most of these people are made to travel there on borrowed money sometimes they do not meet the recruiting partners in Qatar. So they go there just a few days as unplanned tourists and they are sent back and made to reapply.

They subsequently, get back to Ghana and start all over again and take loans to return before they are employed so this adds to the desperation and it becomes as if you are being done a favour hence you cannot complain.

They are usually pinned to a salary agreement that they do not have prior knowledge of or even any input. All these, I say it is at variance with what is done by the Philippine government.

Especially, when we consider the skills and placement of such employees they find themselves in jobs that they were trained for in their home countries and are paid expatriate salaries.

I wish to suggest that if all these government agencies like its been stated “Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ghana Immigration Service, National Security, the Ministry of the Interior and the Labour Department” are sticking their heads out for this cause, then they must be up and doing.

There should be proper study of the best practices and a streamlining of the procedures and processes in terms of accountability, transparency, social security and adherence to international labour and recruitment regulations. So, as not to make a well intentioned programme mirror a scam as its being labeled now.