Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has disclosed that some of the Ghanaian detainees in Libya were forced to pay various amounts before they were released.
According to her, some of them paid as much as GHc5, 000 before they were discharged.
“Some family members of the Ghanaian detainees have had to pay ransoms, sometimes as much as GHc5, 000 to secure their release. It is possible that those detainees whose families could not mobilize resources to pay the ransom had been sold off,” she told Parliament on Thursday on the back of the repatriation of some 127 Ghanaians from Libya.
These Ghanaians and some other black Africans were reported to have been subjected to inhumane treatment after giving away their life’s earnings and making torturous journeys through the Sahara hoping to make it big in Europe.
The reports also suggest that, some of the African migrants in Libya were being sold into slavery; although the government has since said that no Ghanaian was involved.
Briefing Parliament on the matter, Ayorkor Botchwey said Ghana’s mission in Libya will soon be re-opened to properly monitor the situation in that country following recent reports of slave auctions.
Ghana’s mission in Malta currently has concurrent accreditation for Libya following the closure of Ghana’s mission there some years ago.
“…Arrangements are now underway to reopen the Ghana mission in Tripoli, so that the plight of our nationals could be better monitored, their rights protected, and their repatriation made more safe and efficient,” the Minister added.
One of them who recounted his experience to Citi News‘ Caleb Kudah, complained that they spent as much as 3,000 dollars, but returned with nothing except with dehumanizing experiences from their fellow human beings in a foreign land.
Source: citifmonline.com
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Author: ***barred word*** No.1 (registered user) Date: 12-01-2017 23:24 I was shocked to observe that as soon as the returnees arrived at the Kotoka International Airport, they were given one biscuit and one coke and put in some Metro buses driven straight to Circle. According to some reports they were given Ghc400 each for transport to their hometowns: to go to wherever they came from. Is this how you handle a tragic and traumatic experience that these people went through. Disister management at its worst. The whole world knows the traumatic experience that these people went through in LIbya. They were beaten, tortured, maltreated, imprisoned and sold as slaves. Their own accounts showed everyday people went mad in Libya. What the government should have done is to house them in a temporary structure. The government should have asked for help from the international community and international orgainsations like the UNHCR, IMO, UNDP stc. These returnees needed to be housed and provided medical check up. They needed to be examined for their mental and physical sanity, provided counsel and taken care of for between one week to 10 days and if everything is fine, they are re-integrated back into the society. You don't just carry them in a Metro bus to Circle, provide them with some coins and ask them to go home. Where is the professionalism in that. Where is the empathy in that. What counsel were they given. We have amateurs handling affairs in this country. I weep for Ghana.
AFRICA CAN THIS. BRING UNITY AMONG AFRICAN AS ONE PEOPLE?I CAN'T THINK FAR