Give Rastafarians the opportunities they deserve – Ras Mubarak

Former Member of Parliament for Kumbungu Constituency, Ras Mubarak, has advocated that persons with dreadlocks (Rasta) should not be shunned in public due to their looks.

In an interview with Kofi Adoma on Kofi TV, the MP said if the person is good at what he is doing he should be given the opportunity and not be disallowed because of his looks.

“It was a symbol of defiance to show that it is not only those with suit and tie that can be useful in society. Even in our African society, we have Rastas who have served our communities well but over time the school system has been programmed in such a way that when one wears Rasta (dreadlocks) he or she is not allowed to school. I remember those times a friend of mine when he was going to law school he was asked to shave off the Rasta (dreadlocks) he was wearing,” he said.

“So when I started my job at GBC, I didn’t have dreadlocks but at some point, I felt that the discrimination was getting too much and I needed to become a rallying point and once you have someone who is doing something and the person seems to know what he or she is about the system does not have a choice but to accept it. Imagine me being a journalist and I look like I don’t know what I am about, and I also had dreadlocks they would have sacked me long ago,” he added.

He further stated that he was the only journalist who was able to take a TV crew from Ghana to South Africa to cover the funeral of Lucky Dube.

“But in my days at GBC, I could even walk directly to the office of the Director general and discuss issues with him. When Lucky Dube passed on, I took a TV crew from GBC straight to South Africa to cover the funeral. The idea was that if media houses will travel outside the country, it shouldn’t only be limited to when the president is travelling out of the country,” he said.