Stranded and frustrated Ghanaians abroad cannot afford expensive hotels for quarantine

The government of Ghana through its missions abroad have hinted of evacuating stranded and distressed Ghanaians abroad in the coming weeks. The announcement made by the Ghanaian authority has been a relief to many Ghanaian nationals who got stranded in other countries due to the closure of national borders by the various government due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

However, the government of Ghana has given its citizens a pre-condition to bear the full cost of their 14-day mandatory quarantine when they arrive in the country. Some of the hotels that have been recommended by the Ghanaian authorities to the evacuees can best be categorized among the most expensive hotels in the world.

A statement from Ghana's High Commission to the United Kingdom and Ghana embassy in Berlin is requesting each of the distressed and destitute Ghanaian evacuees, to pay a daily hotel cost ranging from GHS500 to GHS600 (90-120 dollars).

The said amount according to the statement, is to cover the evacuee's hotel boarding, breakfast, lunch, supper and water for a period of their 14-day COVID-19 mandatory quarantine whiles in Ghana.

In essence, the government of Ghana is expecting each of the evacuees to pay a total of between GHS7,000 to GHS8,400 (roughly 1,260 to 1,680 dollars) for the 14-day quarantine period.

In a country where the average Ghanaian worker is paid around $3 a day, one wonders but forced to ask where the Ghanaian authorities expect these distressed and stranded Ghanaian nationals to get the said amount to enable them to pay for their mandatory quarantine period in Ghana. The best the government of Ghana could have done is to recommend a more affordable accommodation facility for the evacuees or subsidized the cost of the hotels to their nationals to enable them to observe their mandatory quarantine in peace.

The sad part of the story is that most of these stranded Ghanaian national have spent everything they have during the three-month travel restrictions in the country where they got stranded. The least the government of Ghana could have done for these stranded citizens in these difficult time is to understand their current plight by assisting them in every way possible to minimize their stressed and their moment of destitute.

Among the stranded Ghanaian nationals are students, academicians, government employees, tourist, businessmen and women and people who visited families abroad. Some stranded Ghanaian citizens speaking to Info Radio disclosed that it would be difficult for them to afford the high cost of the hotel for their mandatory quarantine and therefore called on the government of Ghana to assist them by subsidizing the cost of the hotel to enable them to pay.

Others called on the government to recommend a more affordable hotel facility for them. Meanwhile, stranded Ghanaian nationals in the UK are expected to be evacuated by the government of Ghana on the 17th and 21st-25th June for Ghanaians in Germany and some EU countries.