The �Whites Only� Nonsense

The �Whites Only� status of a restaurant atop a seafood shop in Osu is perhaps the most racist insult to be endured by us in post-independent Ghana. And for it to operate for this long without the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) unearthing the obtrusiveness casts a cloud over the integrity of the agency�s operations. Residents in the neighbourhood must also share in the blame, given the undisputable fact that the anomaly had been going on for a long time until Elizabeth Okoro blew the lid off it. The suggestion is that but for her whistle-blowing action, the apartheid in Ghana would have gone on for even a longer time. We thought, albeit erroneously, that the government tourist management agency, GTA, undertakes periodic inspection of facilities under the hospitality industry across the country to ensure that the laws governing their operations are strictly adhered to. Had this been the case, there is no doubt that the anomaly would have been detected before more membership cards were issued to the Caucasian racist guests in our midst. In the light of this, the GTA must endure the ignominy which has come with the apartheid-In-Ghana nonsense because it is their laxity which led to the blossoming of the operations of the racists. It can only be imagined had this happened in post apartheid South Africa. We have been insulted in the most horrible fashion in a country whose founding fathers, especially its maiden president, supported other Africans to wriggle themselves from the shackles of colonialism and racism. In one of our previous commentaries, we had cause to tackle the issue of security consciousness, a quality lacking in most Ghanaians. The average Ghanaian is indifferent to what happens in their neighbourhood. For those who exhibit such traits by calling the attention of the security agencies in the face of security anomalies, they stand the risk of being called names and even taunted. The difficulty the Daily Guide team encountered when it went to probe the apartheid system is evidential of how uncooperative we are as a people when information of national interest is being sought from us by germane agencies and the media. When one of the residents dared the odds to speak at all, it was with hesitancy and under a condition of anonymity, fearing the consequences of being identified as the source of the information regarding the anomalous operation of the �Whites Only� eating joint. Ghana is our country and our guests must respect us for what we are. Such inappropriate segregation cannot be acceptable because it is unseemly and insulting to our persons. Many reports have been published by the local media about how one expatriate or the other, especially Chinese and Lebanese, have spat on their Ghanaian workers. There are others who pay their workers slave wages even as they put these persons to work under the most inhuman conditions. Sometimes, these persons are dismissed from work with nothing paid to them as parting salary. In almost all the cases, nothing is done to these defaulting expatriates who are willing to part with so much money to get away with their offences. That is Ghana for you.