Story By: Hannah Dadzie
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration says it is working with authorities in the United Arab Emirates, UAE to evacuate about 431 Ghanaians stranded in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.
A statement issued by the Ministry said its attention has been drawn to the detention of some Ghanaian nationals in Dubai at the Al Tawadi Medical Centre and the Immigration Centre.
According to the statement, the 431 Ghanaians, comprising 341 males, 88 females and two children below the age of three were at the medical centre as well as an unspecified number of African migrants.
It said in the wake of the above development, officers from Ghana’s Consulate-General in Dubai visited the stranded compatriots at the detention centre and extended proximity consular assistance to them.
The statement said the stranded persons were misled by agents who promised them jobs in Dubai and the UAE. The agents have abandoned them, making them easy targets for arrest and detention by law enforcement agencies in the UAE.
“investigations revealed that the agents were paid significant sums to facilitate the entry of the prospective travellers into the UAE. They only discovered that the jobs they were promised were non-existent” the statement added.
This development of non-availability of job opportunities in Dubai has often placed the compatriots in a precarious condition making them vulnerable and easy targets for arrest and detention by the law enforcement agencies in the UAE.
“Even though our stranded compatriots went to the UAE on their own volition, the Government of Ghana is making necessary efforts, in collaboration with the UAE authorities to effect the evacuation of our stranded nationals back to Ghana” the Ministry said.
The Ministry is thus cautioning persons who wish to travel, to do so through the appropriate authorities. It warned prospective travellers to the Gulf region to be mindful of nefarious activities by unscrupulous agents.
It however noted that the Ministry for the Interior and the Ministry of National Security are putting measures in place to deal with the activities of unnegotiated travel agencies.
