Dear Africans, Before You Blame Anyone for The Situation In Libya....

Dear African brothers and sisters in Africa and in the Diaspora,

before you task the Western Media, Countries, Football stars, the UN, other diplomatic missions to respond to the slavery happening in Libya, before you flaunt social media with frames over the outrage on the slavery auctions happening in Libya, you need to understand this. Now grab a chair, sit and read!!

Slavery of all kinds is a violation of Human Rights and is not acceptable under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a dozen other documents signed by Global, Regional and National bodies “mandated” by Law or otherwise to protect and fight for the Human Rights of citizens across the world.

Why will people spend a fortune on a journey and be ready to endure all kinds of torture travelling 1000s of miles through deserts, forests, humid days and cold nights and willing to be traded at about $400 cross the Mediterranean Sea with dreams of making it to Europe?

What will subject anyone to the point of trading off their dignity as Humans after series of torture to a few hundreds of Dollars? Perhaps, Life is better lived elsewhere other than the African Continent. No?!

When each year, 250, 000 young people compete for 5000 new jobs, the graduate population keeps increasing against the number of jobs. When working conditions of employed youth is nothing to write home about. Talk of the 1000s of secondary school graduates working in factories subjected to hazardous work only for a meagre amount of Cedis that basically covers transportation to work and in some fortunate cases, afford meals. What about the number of graduates who stoop for anything that comes their way just to cope with the harsh conditions of living.

Count yourself fortunate if you live this experience in the Capital Accra. For young people in different parts of Ghana, it’s even tougher, and perhaps more difficult a reality for the out of school youth who despite their exuberance, are left with little to no options of hazardous work in the regions. Look into the real cases of illegal gold mining know as “galamsey” operations; it is a clear issue of exploitation of young people, and women by the brains behind the operations.

The constant display of better standard of living in EU, US and other parts of the world in our media; Television series, movies, display of wealth by fellow Africans in the Diaspora against the increasing hardship experienced by the people makes the dream to migrate to Europe or elsewhere by hook or crook so close to reality, that they don’t really mind if they are sold at the cost of $400. After all, if they make it to wherever they intend to, the notion is that they will be better off than $400 or any amount or torture they might have endured in the course of the journey. Get the drill?

Modern day slavery and human rights trafficking Ghana and in many African countries happen every day. In fact, as you read, there is a higher chance migrants are being prepared for a journey to an unknown destination. The traffickers are Ghanaians too. They live with you, in the church, across the street, in your homes, everywhere. Look on the streets of Accra and other major cities, the advertisements of better jobs in the west and gulf countries with unbelievable salaries, assured visa clearances. Those are all entry points for these migrants who want better standards of living.

Go to the Kotoka International Airport, despite immigration checks to filter these cases, traffickers are also smart ahead of their game. Migrants are schooled on what to say and how to say it. There are points when asked questions on suspicions of trafficking, some go mute. My prayers go out to the immigration and flight ground staff who couldn’t handle a group of about 10 young girls from different part of Ghana on a journey to the gulf but could not speak English or the widely spoken Twi. This was an eyewitness’ account in March 2017. Turns out, they were schooled by traffickers who were within the airport but the girls refused to identify. Long story short, the girls left the shores of Ghana and many more leave the country every day. It has become the norm for high school students as I gathered in several parts of Ghana to migrate to these countries after high school and it’s a booming business for traffickers. Read the Fake News Story about the Fake US Embassy for more.

Why would the Foreign Minister for Denmark apologise for his country’s role in Slave trade in Africa decades ago, and a Ghanaian sarcastically respond otherwise. It tells you how real of an impression migrants have of the land of milk and honey. You don’t need a prophet to tell you this.

Why is The French President’s reaction about slavery in Libya making headlines and not the reaction of our numerous African Leaders? Because the West through its programmes with your governments (go and demand the right answers from your leaders) have established initiatives and inject resources to make life better for people to stay and build their countries rather than look elsewhere. The International Organisation for Migration supports numerous programmes through government and in recently as circulated on social media, supporting the Ghana Consulate in Malta, repatriate Ghanaian migrants back to their country. How much money does the Government of Ghana inject into this? Ask your government!

Recently, The US Ambassador to Ghana charged the country to tackle the trafficking of persons serious else Ghana stands the risk of losing $500 million of aid. Click here to read more.. That was in June 2017.

Someone tell the president his comment is not enough to deal with the issue, we need action! We were all in Ghana when the US Ambassador raised the concern. Simple logic teaches us that from all indications, a country who needs a sort of warning on the risk of losing aid money over trafficking of its own citizens for serious actions to be taken is not a country that stands for its people. Will you blame the west for not harnessing the huge dividend of your own labour force? Come on!! 

So before you change your facebook profile picture to sympathise with our African brothers in Libya, If you hold any information from the authorities about traffickers or conmen known as “connection men” who lure people into trafficking them elsewhere for greener pastures, you are part of the problem. If you are directly or indirectly exploiting people at the workplace and under paying them, you are part of the problem. To the “burgers” out there promising people heaven and earth faking documents for people to travel, spare us the “fake” sympathy and rant on social media calling the west to react, you are part of the problem. To those of you who encourage your friends and siblings

to run away from the least opportunity they get to travel abroad, stop the hypocrisy, you are part of the problem. The governments and sportsmen and women who travel with spectators for world games and some end up not returning home, stop the blame game and admit you are part of the problem. I will not talk about the men and women of God who equally contribute to this through their work because, as you may know, we are a highly religious country and I do not want to incur the wrath of God over my cute little life so I will skip that and move on to those calling on BBC and other western media to report on the issue, ask your national media houses if they are adequately dedicating enough airtime or willing to commit resources to help journalists do a thorough coverage of the realities. There is no saviour who will jump in to save the situation as we all expect. Collectively, we have contributed to the situation in Libya today and no amount of speeches, rants, and fake news going round on social media and different spaces can solve the situation unless we demand the right answers and objectively fight for equal economic opportunities for all.

I am willing to volunteer my time to uncover some realities behind the trafficking of persons or contribute to research on the matter. Kindly share resources or reach out to me at okofrancis@gmail.com

Let's have an objective discussion, leave a comment below.

Thank you