The police have arrested a Chinese national for using an offensive weapon to cause harm to his Ghanaian co-worker at a construction site in the Kweikuma suburb of Takoradi, in the Western Region.
Police preliminary investigation indicates that the suspect, Xue Hue, on September 28, 2022, allegedly attacked the victim, who is a mason, with a knife inflicting a cut on his neck.
The victim has since been treated and discharged.
“Meanwhile, the suspect is in custody assisting the investigation and will be put before court on September 30, 2022, to face justice,” the police said in a statement released on Thursday, September 29.
Background
The victim, Isaac Boateng, suffered knife wounds after his throat was slashed by his Chinese boss in Kweikuma, a community in the Sekondi-Takoradi municipality of the Western Region.
According to reports, the alleged perpetrator works for a Chinese company contracted to build structures close to the apartments of the Ghana Navy flats area at Kweikuma.
One of the workers who narrated the incident said the victim approached their Chinese boss to demand their salaries after working for a month without being paid.
“We have worked for the whole month, and our salaries had not been paid, so we had a meeting and asked our Chinese employer why we had not been paid. One of our colleagues went to the Chinese boss to find out what was wrong with the salaries because we have families and we also owe some people,” he told Connect FM.
“In the heat of the argument, the Chinese boss pulled a flick knife and slashed the throat of our colleague. He has incurred deep wounds. Blood traces could be seen everywhere. He has been rushed to the Effiankwanta Hospital, and we pray he will survive,” he alleged.
He added that their colleague was rushed to the hospital for medical attention after some military officers intervened and resolved the issue.
“Some military [officers] intervened, and calm was restored later, but the foreigner who committed the crime is still walking around. We are in pain and demand justice for our brother. We are about 80 workers here, and they pay each of us GH¢18 a day for the tedious construction work we are doing here,” he added.
Abuse by expatriate bosses
Over the last few years, concerns have been raised about the treatment of Ghanaians working under expatriate superiors.
The Transport and Petroleum Workers Union of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) embarked on a protest march in the Western Region against the maltreatment of Ghanaian workers by expatriate employers.
This followed an incident involving an Italian supervisor at Gateway Logistics Limited who chained a Ghanaian employee to a container for failing to complete his task.
In another case, a female Ghanaian supervisor at Peterpan Restaurant in Accra was slapped with a hot pizza by her Korean employer.
A Lebanese supervisor at the Abelemkpe branch of Marwako restaurant was also jailed nine months for assaulting an employee.
The supervisor grabbed the neck of the employee and forced her face into a jar of blended pepper.