DORMAA-AHENKRO, Ghana, June 3, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Ernest Owusu wants to get
his hands dirty. “I have nothing to work on,” the Ghanaian mechanic
complains, looking around at his roadside garage which is littered with
rusted cars and vans.
If he had the money, he said, he would spend it on trying to go to Libya,
and from there to potentially seek a new life in Europe.
Owusu, who lives in Dormaa-Ahenkro in Ghana’s Brong-Ahafo region, is
oblivious to the acclaimed speech that the country’s President Nana Akufo-
Addo gave in December last year.
He told his visiting French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that he wanted to
unshackle Ghanaians from a mentality dependent on overseas “aid and charity”.
Instead, he aims to harness the “resilience and ingenuity” of those who
make the perilous journey across the Sahara Desert to help build a country
for the future.
Owusu, 38, is one of those people. But the fact he wants to go back to
Libya is an indication that he and many others feel there are precious few
options at home.
Dormaa-Ahenkro, near the border with Ivory Coast and some 450 kilometres
(280 miles) by road from the capital Accra, is a hotbed of irregular
migration — travelling without proper documents such as a passport and visa.
Owusu, who has three children, spent 20 years working as a mason in Libya
until he was deported in 2011 when police intercepted the boat he was on in
an attempt to get to Italy.
– Unequal growth –
Ghana’s economy is expected to grow by 8.3 percent this year — the
fastest in the world. But unemployment is still a major issue.
Two years ago, the World Bank said nearly half (48 percent) of people aged
15 to 24 were jobless.
The government is trying to get 100,000 university graduates into work,
but Owusu never finished school and doesn’t believe there are opportunities
for the likes of him.
“It’s a lie,” he said about economic growth. “You can’t come here and say
it’s good. Look at my hands, there are no cars.”
Farming tomatoes up the road is another Libya returnee, Kwame Amadu
Haruna.
He also worked as a mason and is struggling to make ends meet in Ghana. He
tried to start a poultry farm but ran out of money. The structure is built
but there are no birds inside.
A friend calls him daily to try to convince him to return to Libya. Unlike
Owusu he has vowed never to go back after having a gun pulled on him and his
wages withheld.
Haruna, 43, instead tries to tell people not to go. Those he talks to are
unaware of the harsh realities of the journey and the often slave-like
conditions that await.
He says he’s heard about Akufo-Addo’s plans and is optimistic for the
future. But he too says nothing will prevent the exodus if there are no jobs.
Discussions about bringing jobs to Ghana’s provinces are “just talk”. “We
didn’t see anything,” he added.
– Stem the tide –
There are increased coordinated efforts to stem the flow of irregular
migration, which reflects a trend elsewhere in West Africa, particularly
Nigeria.
On May 15, 148 Ghanaians were voluntarily brought back from Libya, taking
the total number of returnees since July last year to 706.
As of March, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) identified
62,422 Ghanaians in Libya — the fifth largest of 38 nationalities in the
North African country.
The European Union has funded the construction of the Migrant Information
Centre in Sunyani, the capital of the Brong-Ahafo region, which is run by the
Ghana Immigration Service.
GIS chief superintendent James Hayford Boadi and his team educate local
communities about the risks and realities of irregular migration, and seek to
promote regular migration instead.
He said that in 2012 about half of returnees from Libya came from Brong-
Ahafo, escaping the 2011 uprising after the fall of Libyan leader Moamer
Kadhafi.
Since then, the region has been over-represented in irregular migration.
– Worth dying for –
Nevertheless, Boadi says irregular migration is “endemic” and people like
30-year-old Albert Oppong, who graduated from university in 2013, maintain
it’s a risk worth dying for.
He’s lost count of the number of jobs he has applied for. Many of his
friends and schoolmates have died trying to get to Libya and beyond. His
older brother was killed there in 2016.
One thing united them: poverty. “You never see the worldly people’s sons
or their wards leaving to those places. It’s about work,” he said.
He was also sceptical of talk about a brighter future in Ghana, accusing
politicians of making promises but not delivering.
“If you know you are from a poor background, you know you can only make a
change there (overseas) for your family if only you don’t die.”
He believes he will be one of the lucky ones and survive the trip:
“Everything is determination and perseverance. Through that, I can get
there.”