Don’t wait till you are called an “illegal migrant”- Ghanaians advised
Ghanaians who have plans of migrating to other countries to work have been advised to seek the counsel of the Labour Department and other appropriate organizations before embarking on their journeys.
Franklin Owusu Ansah, the Deputy General Secretary of the Health Services Workers’ Union (HSWU), of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), notes that this will allow the department to conduct checks on their contracts to ascertain their credibility before they leave the shores of Ghana.
He was speaking at the launch of a guide entitled, “Pre-decision and Information Guide for Potential Migrants and Returned Migrant Workers in Ghana.”
The guide has been designed to specifically provide aspiring migrant workers information on required documentation before they travel, recruitment procedures, worker’s rights and the right to join a trade union.
He said more often than not when people get job offers outside of the country; they are quick to leave without thoroughly checking what is entailed in their contracts.
He said seeking the advice of the Labour Department on contracts before travelling would help them check issues related to job security, duration, wage benefits and other conditions of service.
Owusu-Ansah emphasized on the need for potential migrants to obtain work permit and also ensure that their employers had obtained work permit for them as lack of information on these matters could easily put one under an undocumented migrant or “illegal migrant” status as some prefer to call it .
“Migration is a normal and natural phenomenon but wait until you are called an expatriate, a migrant or an illegal migrant and you will know where to position yourself. Whether migration is very normal or it is not nice being a migrant,” he sarcastically said.
The Resident Country Director of Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), Fritz Kopsieker believes that most migrants that arrive in Europe and especially Germany very often are a mix between people who migrate for economic or political reasons or crisis reasons such as persecution or abuse of human rights.
“Germany and other European countries need migration and should be open for migration however, there should be a result based policy that outlines criteria, quantity and quality for a migrant to be accepted and allowed to work in those countries.”
He adds that, many migrants abuse political asylum.
“Many migrants who are not persecuted in their home countries do seek for political asylum and I don’t think they are doing anybody a favour and obviously they are not doing that for fun but for their own motivations “
He called for migration to take place in a regulated, orderly and policy-based fashion which will go a long way to integrate migrants and offer them the protection they need.
Recent media reports making rounds suggest Ghanaian football star, Michael Essien is likely to be involved in a legal tussle after the government-backed Professional Sports Agency found the player did not have the required work permits to play in Indonesia.
Essien was signed by his new club, Persib Bandung last month and made his debute last Saturday
The club according to media reports admitted that the player did not have the work permits and they had sought to acquire the documents a few days before their first match.
By Pamela Ofori-Boateng
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