Unemployed graduates and some youth who are desperate to work to earn a living have fallen victims to the scheme of some scrupulous and greedy people in Ghana who enrich themselves by preying on the poor.
These greedy people have sophisticated methods of recruiting people and trafficking them to work as prostitutes and slaves in other countries. These recruiters openly recruit their victims with no fear of being arrested because of the nature of the approach.
The last time I checked, it was illegal to practice human trafficking, and the world frowns on it. People who are caught in this type of act could face some jail term. But the threat of jail time doesn’t t curtail these traffickers to slow down by any means.
If anything at all, they have become rather aggressive in finding different ways to recruit and traffic their victims. In Ghana for instance, the new way of trafficking young people outside the country is to tell them that they are being sent out to work as store clerks, domestic servants or butchers in the Arab countries.
Apparently, the announcements for recruitments are made through radio stations and churches with permission from the church leaders. As such, most of these venerable young people tend to believe everything that is being said.
They are made to pay huge sums of money in order to make these trips. Some pay as much as 4,000 ghc, which is equivalent of about $2, 170. Some of these youth end up in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Unfortunately, once they arrive in their respective destinations, they realize that they have been deceived. According to some of the victims, immediately upon their arrival, all their personal belongings such as passports, clothing, and cellphones are taken away from them. The women are turned into prostitutes, while the men are left to find their fate.
It is not a situation where one can reject or accept based on choices. The youths are not given any choices when it comes to what they should do. According to some of the victims, they are forced to eat from the floor; some are chained to walls like dogs, while others are whipped on a daily basis. They stated that some of their friends die in the process because of the treatment that is meted to them.
Ostensibly, this new way or should I say this bold way of recruiting and trafficking the youths is an open business in Ghana. It involves some high profile people including the CEO of Channel of Blessing Ministry, Princess Asie Ocansey who also hosts a radio program on Sunny FM every Saturday afternoon. Apparently, her radio program is the platform that she uses to recruit the youths.
Also arrested last week were several managers of various traveling agencies across Ghana who were also involved in this scheme. This, apparently, is a booming industry for some powerful people in Ghana, and they believe the case will die off without any prosecution. According to Supt Quaye, Director of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of Ghana Police Service, investigations so far has revealed that the American embassy in Ghana has similar complaint against Princess Ocansey who is now on police enquiry bail pending investigations.
Do you blame our leaders that the youths sought to seek greener pastures in these Arab countries because of unemployment in Ghana? Or do you believe people who seek to travel to these countries just want an easy way out?