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Government Solely Responsible For Refugees In Ghana
May 15, 2008
James W. Harris
Alleged mistreatment of Liberians at the Buduburam camp should be fully investigated
One of the primary responsibilities of a government (any government) is to protect its citizens especially in times of crises. This is particularly true if they are indeed in trouble somewhere abroad.
Truthfully, though, there are only a handful of governments in the world today that can rightfully boast of doing just that. The governments in these particular countries often go far beyond normal expectations to ensure that the rights and interests of their citizens are well protected even when they’re abroad. Understandably, the Liberian government is not one of them.
When news broke some weeks ago that several hundred Liberian refugees, mostly women and children, were staging a sit-in protest at the Buduburam camp in Ghana to press their demands for “what they [saw] as dissatisfactory arrangements to have them repatriated this year (back to their now devastated country)” [13 March 2008 (IRIN)], I wondered then just how the sitting Johnson Sirleaf administration would handle the whole situation, especially regarding the protesters’/refugees’ demands.
Earlier news reports indicated that the Madam President was enroute to Lofa County (Northwestern Liberia) with members of her cabinet on a short retreat, which to me, really wasn’t a bad idea after all.
According to various news reports during that time, it was there at the retreat that the President briefed her cabinet about the unfolding protest situation involving Liberian refugees at the Buduburam Camp in Ghana.
“The President said that a delegation had been dispatched to the Ghanaian capital, Accra, to hold further discussions with their Ghanaian counterparts and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees [UNHCR] to address the situation, in the wake of an announcement that the Ghanaian authorities [were] preparing to expel over six-hundred protesting Liberian refugees” [from that country], the Liberian-based Analyst newspaper reported on March 20, 2008.
High powered delegation dispatched
Following the visit of what was described as a “high power [ed]” Liberian delegation to Ghana that was headed by Foreign Minister, Olubanke King-Akerele, a Joint Statement was subsequently issued by both nations to explain their plan of action going forward regarding the Liberian refugee crisis at the camp.
“At the end of the deliberations, the two sides agreed as follows”, item number seven (7) in the Joint Statement read [FrontPageAfrica, 04/03/08 – document]
The statement continued under item seven (7) (a): “…a Tripartite Committee made up of representatives of the Governments of Ghana and Liberia [respectively], and the UNHCR [had been formed] to oversee the implementation of discussions reached on the repatriation of Liberian refugees in Ghana as well as on the handling and monitoring of [the] Liberian refugee situation [in that country].”
Now, why did it have to take a protest that was apparently growing unruly for both the Ghanaian and Liberian governments or even the UNHCR office in Ghana for that matter to have seen the need to setup a committee like this much earlier to address the same concerns of the refugees, I wonder?
I guess, all of us will have to be thankful to God now that something was finally worked out and that the situation at the camp has since calmed down. The Liberian government must be commended, though, for engaging the Ghanaians almost immediately when the situation seemed to have been getting out of control with the reported arrests of several hundred Liberians by members of that country’s security forces.
Particular praise must be rightfully given to Ambassador Rudolph Van-Ballmoos, the Liberian envoy to Ghana, for his swift action in holding a first-hand meeting with the protesting refugees to at least listen to their demands and more significantly, plead with them to peacefully end their protest action.
President Sirleaf should have gone in person
Personally, I felt strongly (and still do) that the Liberian President herself should have paid a special visit to Ghana in person to be with her distressed citizens while consulting with her Ghanaian counterpart, President John Kufour on the best way to resolve the unexpected crisis.
I mean, she’s been traveling the world over just to pick up all sorts of seemingly meaningless awards (since they do not directly benefit the suffering Liberian people today) and beg for help supposedly to resuscitate her failed nation from the time she became President – hasn’t she? Well then, what happened when it came time to rescue and physically be with her own citizens who have been stranded in Ghana for several years now due partly to the President’s own contribution [however small according to some] to the carnage which destroyed our country?
By dispatching a “high power [ed]” delegation instead, President Sirleaf may just have blown yet another good opportunity to convince Liberians that their government is on their side at last. After all, it was her action as well as the collective actions of other unscrupulous and opportunistic Liberians which brought wars on our country, thereby, creating the refugee situation we’re seeing today.
It is well known that Liberians were never adventurous travelers who took chances going to strange places until those reckless civil wars forced them to.
Today, you’ll be surprised to know where some Liberians find themselves directly due to the various bloody wars forced upon them apparently for no good reason. The quality of life for the majority of Liberians has actually grown worse as the direct result of those reckless civil wars and this fact cannot be denied.
Liberians find themselves in strange places
You can find Liberians in places like, Taiwan, China, Sweden, Singapore, Nigeria, and even Saudi Arabia, amongst others. So, it’s not like they’re there by their own choices, because, frankly, they didn’t have any with inevitable death staring them right in their already frightened faces.
And so, there can be no denial that the welfare of all Liberian refugees, regardless of wherever they may be abroad today, remains the sole and full responsibility of the Liberian government especially the current one.
That some senior officials in this Unity Party government did in one way or the other support the various civil wars reign on our country in the immediate past isn’t a hidden secret except you’ve been living in a completely different world for the last 20 years
Therefore, the Johnson Sirleaf administration would do well to live up to its responsibility or challenge of ensuring that Liberian citizens everywhere (not only in Ghana) are adequately taken care of as they should.
Refugees not asking for too much
Again, after all, from what I’ve read so far, the refugees really weren’t asking for too much prior to their protest. All they were asking for were basically these: (1) For the UNHCR to give them at least US00 compared to the meagre $US100 usually given them as resettlement money to a wrecked country like Liberia and (2) Assist them in resettling to third countries since they neither wanted to stay in Ghana or go back to Liberia – their home country for various personal reasons.
They also made it crystal clear that they didn’t want to be assimilated into the Ghanaian society, because in some of their views and experiences, their host country hadn’t been accommodating them as well as they had thought, denying them employment opportunities in some cases thereby making life very difficult for them. These are all legitimate concerns, aren’t they?
Further, it’s not like the protesting refugees didn’t make any attempt to settle their grievances peacefully with the proper authorities in Ghana before resorting to their action because they actually did.
According to their official statement published on FrontPageAfrica.com on 03/25/08, they said in very clear terms: “In November 2007, the Ghana Refugee Board presented an agenda to the Liberian Refugee Welfare Council concerning local integration and repatriation. A meeting to discuss the agenda was never held. This raised serious concerns and gave rise to the women’s quest for answers. It was only after the women took the protest action in early February 2008 that dialogue became inevitable.” The reason why they undertook their protest action certainly couldn’t have been made any clearer or more legitimate.
In addition, the protesting refugees were also trying desperately to draw attention to the fact that they were not seeing much of the money designated under various programs to help them resettle whether in Ghana or any other third country.
They explained in their official statement that: “Moreover, the United Nations and the Government of Japans repatriation assistance (Assistance to the Refugees of the UNHCR Settlements in Buduburam and Krisan for their Repatriation, Local Integration and Resettlement through Micro and Small-Scale Enterprise Development) of $USD 1,745, 782.00 is yet to impact repatriation, as those repatriated to Liberia up to the end of 2007 [had only] received only US 5.00 dollars [? each].” So, where has the rest of the money been going?
Disparaging comments
That’ s why when you read comments made by people like David Farhat, former Standard-bearer of the so-called Free Democratic Party, who incidentally took part in the last elections, make disparaging remarks about the refugees’ sit-in action, you wonder which reality they’re living in.
“Commenting on the situation which claimed national and international attention, the former presidential contender urged the refugees to accept whatever [were] given [them] by the UNHCR as resettlement benefits, and that they should be grateful for what [was] being provided”, the Analyst also reported during that time.
Another Liberian, one Bartum Kulah, who frequently posts letters on FrontPageAfrica.com, wrote in response to another letter on the Liberian refugees’ crisis: “We need to stop encouraging the spirit of entitlement and dependency. Why should they insist on being resettled to a country other than Liberia, when they are aware that the resettlement process is over? Why should they demand a thousand dollars each before they can return home?”
“You all know as well as I do that most of these people sit in the camp and wait to receive WESTERN UNION payments. Let's not fool ourselves, if these people really want to go home, their families abroad would be glad to make that happen’, he also wrote, adding, “God bless Liberia and save our ‘Queen’." [FrontPageAfroca, 03/26/08, Letter of the Day: How Dare Writer…].
Sadly, a few other Liberians really do share Messrs. Farhat’s and Kulah’s view points
without intelligently factoring in how the refugees got to wherever they presently are in the first place. Or, do they simply want to ignore our (Liberia’s) recent history?
This kind of attitude on the part of Liberians like Messrs. Farhat and Kulah who should know better but evidently don’t could be attributed to only two things in my mind – gross insensitivity or raw arrogance. Period! No wonder why a person like Mr. Farhat failed miserably in his ill-fated bid for the Liberian Presidency.
Investigation needed
Although the situation at the Buduburam camp in Ghana is calm at the moment, I still feel strongly that the Liberian government should appeal to its Ghanaian counterpart to immediately launch an investigation so as to ascertain the truth about the treatment or mistreatment of some of the protestors by security members of their host country.
It’s good that the Sirleaf government took upon itself to apologize officially to President Kufour for what was termed as the “’unruly’ conduct of some Liberian refugees in Ghana.” [FrontPageAfrica, 03/19/08, Liberian Government Expresses Regrets…..]
“The Liberian leader conveyed to President John Agyekum Kufuor Liberia's ‘sincerest apologies for the unruly behavior exhibited by some Liberian refugees at the Buduburam Camp and disassociated itself from the gross misconduct of the group of refugees’”, Sidiki Trawally wrote in his 03/19/08 article captioned “Liberian Government Expresses Regrets Over Refugees Protest Action”
I absolutely don’t see anything wrong with that if some Liberian refugees were in fact exhibiting “unruly” behavior which may have happened in some cases. But the burning question still remains, were their behavior or conduct so disrupting that force was actually required to remove them and send them off as mere animals to be incarcerated in a far away region in Ghana [Kordiabe in the East] before subsequently deporting them (some against their will) back to their native war-torn country - Liberia?
Also, were the rights of Liberian refugees under various humanitarian charters, including, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, violated “intentionally” by some Ghanaian authorities? I’d want to know – don’t you?
I mean, these and many other troubling questions need to be answered – seriously! That’s exactly why I feel strongly that anything short of full-scale investigation should be unacceptable to all Liberians, especially in the spirit of so-called African unity and progress.
Refugees have no options?
As far as options available to the protesting Liberian refugees are concerned, they absolutely have none, which is really a pity. The Joint Statement signed by both the Liberian and Ghanaian government declared: “Recognition and acceptance by the Liberian refugees that repatriation back to Liberia is only the viable option,”
With soaring unemployment and increasing armed robberies, amongst others, in the war-destroyed country worsened by unexpected growing food shortages (especially the nation’s stable food – rice) world-wide, one can only wonder how the Sirleaf government would cope with the large number of returning refugees from Ghana who will be coming home soon.
In light of the deplorable condition the failed country finds itself in today, will the Liberian government go all out of its way to help them resettle in a society that is far different than the one they fled? I surely do hope so because it will be another big tragedy to have them fend for themselves again, albeit Liberia being their country of origin.
Regardless of how it turns out, Liberian citizens everywhere will continue to be their government’s sole responsibility whether or not the sitting administration acknowledges it. For now, though, we’ll just wait and see what happens next.
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