Ban on recruitment to Gulf Countries to be lifted soon – Government
Government says it is working speedily to lift the 2017 ban on the recruitment of Ghanaians for domestic work in Gulf states.
Employment and recruitment agencies have recently complained about severe losses due to the ban though government has initiated processes to lift the ban on the export of labour to countries in the Gulf Region.
Addressing these concerns, the Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Bright Wereko-Brobbey tells Citi News that a migration policy document will soon be sent to Cabinet for approval to enable the suspension of the ban.
He further noted that proposals for bilateral agreements for the lifting of the moratorium had been presented to the Attorney-General’s Department for scrutiny before it would be forwarded to the Cabinet for approval.
“As we speak, government is speedily working on it to ensure that this ban is lifted. But it is going to be lifted with sanity and this export of labour to these Gulf countries. We will urge the general public to give us a little bit of restraint. The president wants this to be cleaned up so that before we export any labour to these Gulf countries, we are sure that certain things are streamlined and they are done. There is a migration policy that as I speak with you has been signed by my the minister and ready to go to Cabinet. Once it is done and approval is given, the ban will be lifted,” he said.
Ban on labour migration to the Gulf States
In 2017, the government placed a ban on the export of local labour to countries such as Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar because of widespread reports of maltreatment of Ghanaians in those countries.
Sector minister, Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah said the temporary ban was part of measures to curtail many reported cases of abuse faced by some Ghanaians working in those countries.
Despite this, the Coalition of Licensed Labour Migration Agencies, returnee migrants, laid off workers and some unemployed youth groups to embark on a demonstration on 18th September 2018, to register their displeasure at government’s continuous ban on labour migration to the Gulf States.
However, some private employment agencies in Ghana are unhappy with government’s continuous ban. They have thus appealed to the government to lift the ban with immediate effect since it is affecting their businesses and their clients.
A member of one of the private employment agencies, Nicholas Ohene Agyekum in a Citi News interview said he believes Government took such decision because of the misconception surrounding such recruitments.