The day the sun stood still in Zongo communities in Ghana

It was Tuesday, November 18, 1969. The sun stood still, it frowned and refused to shine; possibly saddened by the promulgation of the Aliens Compliance Order by Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia's government.

The order read as follows:

It has come to the notice of the government that several aliens, both Africans and non-Africans in Ghana, do not possess the requisite residence permits in conformity with the laws of Ghana. There are others, too, who are
engaging in business of all kinds contrary to the terms of their visiting
permits.

The Government has accordingly directed that all aliens in the first
category, that is those without residence permits, should leave Ghana within fourteen days that is not later than December 2, 1969.

Adding salt to injury, and in an apparent attempt to justify the expulsion of aliens, Dr. Busia in his address to the third African Regional Conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Accra, stated that 90 percent of Ghana’s prison population and known criminals were aliens. Very humiliating, isn't it?

But that was not all. Nearly one million aliens, mostly from the Zongo Communities, were mercilessly thrown out by security agents and had their properties looted. As if that was not enough, Dr. Busia directed all banks not to honour any withdrawal over two thousand pounds, and the effect of this regulation was that the majority of the aliens lost their life savings apart from their houses and other properties. Painful! Isn't it?

Some of the aliens who had laboured for many years to acquire wealth in a foreign land, but had to return home empty-handed, felt that life was not worth living, and so committed suicide.

The Busia government did not make any arrangements to transport the aliens to their respective countries. Some drivers and transport owners took advantage of the situation and manipulated transport fares to skyrocket. Most of the aliens could not afford the cost of transportation because the banks did not allow them to withdraw all their money.

It is heartbreaking to reveal that some resorted to trekking across the borders on foot, and as a result of this strenuous experience, many of the aliens, including children, the aged, and pregnant women lost their lives out of exhaustion.

I write this article with a lot of sentiments because I saw it as a small boy; and the family of one of my classmates, Baje Athie, a Fulani girl, was involved. The vehicle carrying my mate and the other members of her family during the repatriation exercise involved in an accident killing everybody, except Baje.

She was not that fortunate though; she had both legs amputated at the hospital because of the impact of the accident.

This was what Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia's party, the Progress Party (PP) which is now the New Patriotic Party (NPP) did to my Fulani classmate and other aliens from the Zongo communities.

Asking the people of Zongo communities who have lived all their lives in a country, to pack and leave within two weeks, is most atrocious, most insensitive, most abominable, most heartless, most devilish, and in fact, most sinful; an act which can't be forgiven!

I get tetchy and worried that most of the campaign promises of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to seek the welfare of the people of the Zongo communities have not been met.

Apart from a few Astro Turf facilities, projects like the renovation of the Islamic Research Institute at Nima in Accra, the construction of the Tunga Islamic Community School in the Ablekuma West Municipality in Accra and a few other projects scattered across the country, nearly all of their assurances have been suppositional.

For example, there is no tangible evidence of the claim that almost all promised Model Senior High Schools in selected Zongo communities in each of the 16 regions of the country have been built.

And the promise to provide mechanized boreholes in each of the Zongos across the country remains only on paper.

Allah should have mercy on our brothers and sisters in Zongo communities in Ghana, and if they are reading this article, my advice to them is: once bitten, twice shy; it is my utmost belief that the needful thing will be done on December 7, 2024.