Govt to evacuate 431 stranded Ghanaians in Dubai, UAE

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration (MFARI) has said efforts are underway to evacuate 431 Ghanaians who have been detained in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Comprising 341 males, 88 females and two children below the age of three, they were lured there by some agents who promised them jobs in Dubai and other cities in the UAE.

They have been detained at Al Tawadi Medical Centre and the Immigration Centre in Dubai, alongside an unspecified number of African migrants who have suffered same fate.

A statement issued by the MFARI on Thursday said the government was collaborating with the authorities of UAE to bring the stranded nationals back home safely.

“In the wake of the above development, officers from our Consulate-General in Dubai visited our stranded compatriots at the detention centre and extended proximity consular assistance to them. 

In the circumstance, the Ghana Consulate-General is in touch with the host officials on the matter for the protection of the welfare of our compatriots at the detention centres,” it said.

The statement said from investigations done so far it had been confirmed that the agents that misled most of them to Dubai were paid significant sums to facilitate their entry, only for them to discover, upon arrival that the jobs were non-existent.

“This development of non-availability of job opportunities in Dubai has often placed our compatriots in a precarious condition, making them vulnerable and easy targets for arrest and detention by the law enforcement agencies in the UAE,” it said.

The Ministry cautioned prospective travellers to the Gulf Region to be mindful of the nefarious activities of unscrupulous agents, stating that the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of National Security were taking urgent action to deal with the activities of rogue travel agencies. 

BY JONATHAN DONKOR