The Clean-Up Exercise John Mahama Did Not Do: Dealing with Immigration

As someone who has lived a good part of my life in England, in talking about immigration, I am torn between two ends of a continuum: my subjectivist personal emotions and idiosyncrasies attached to the subject of immigration and the objectivism that must be seen associated with any discourse on the dicey subject of immigration. Hence, on the one hand my subjective instincts akin to Enoch Powell in his ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, want to let out the bile in my mouth and ‘say it as it is’. On the other hand, my objective side tells me to tread carefully in that the subject of immigration irrespective of the context the discourse is had, is fraught with a number challenges worth-addressing by any objective mind. Be it as it may, some common ground has to be found between the two extremes and that is what I will try to do in this write-up.

Sometime in 2010, a Nigerian colleague resident in London came to Ghana on holidays. Upon her return she narrated to me and other Ghanaian colleagues in the office how she and her family enjoyed their stay in Ghana. She narrated her experiences at the Kakum National Park, the Aburi Gardens and in particular, the hospitality of the average Ghanaian. Importantly, that conversation was not to end without a ‘but’. Born and bred a Nigerian, she cautioned that even though Ghana was doing well on many fronts, we (Ghanaians) needed to control the influx of Nigerians into the country. She explained that one of the reasons they enjoyed their time in Ghana was the relative peace and tranquillity in the country. She added that she could walk down the road from her hotel late in the night without the fear of being attacked by some social miscreants forming themselves into some form of unwanted vigilantes as the case is in her native Nigeria. Admittedly, at that time, I did not appreciate the full weight and import of her observations.
But my recent 10-week visit to Ghana exposed me to the full ramifications and nuances of that conversation I had with my colleague almost 4 years ago. Living down the road off Spintex Road at Kotobabi junction, I see in my very eyes the dangers posed by the failure of the powers-that-be to control immigration especially from neighbouring West African countries. A walk down the road from 6pm will show anyone who cares to know the extent to which young men and women from (especially) Nigeria are ‘desecrating’ the sacred Ghanaian values of humility, compassion and good neighbourliness. From 6pm onwards, one finds a horde of young men and women drinking and prostituting right under our roofs everywhere and anywhere in Accra: East Legon, Circle, Cantonments, Labone, the list is endless. In the case of my own Spintex neighbourhood, if one happens to pass by the station early in the morning, one is faced with a mountain load of rubbish (empty bottles, plastic bags and what have you) ostensibly left behind from the previous night. This goes on every single night unless stopped by a heavy downpour or something. This situation, from my investigations, is not just peculiar to Kotobabi junction but also everywhere in Accra and in other cities of Ghana: I saw a watered-down version of it in Kumasi.
Understandably, some will argue that prostitution is the oldest trade in the world and that why kick a fuss about a rather old subject. But that is not the point. The issue has to do with the way the current generation is about it. Anyone with a moral fibre will not hesitate to tell you how immoral and repugnant prostitution is. Hence to make it appear almost acceptable in our society beggars belief. It certainly cannot be acceptable to turn every street in every nook and cranny of Ghana into some form of grounds for advertising prostitution. Growing up in Ghana, we all knew that prostitutes had designated places they called “Two-Two Line” and you only saw them when you walked past that neighbourhood. In other words, they were not right in your face! With these ones, their rather aggressive behaviour borders on harassment and intimidation of a repulsive and repugnant nature. One that makes you wonder if the Ghana we so cherish and revere has not sunk into the gutters. One that makes you wonder if there are any security agencies in this country. One that makes you shudder. It has gotten to the point where one cannot even take a leisurely evening walk down the road from his home without being harassed by a whore, a trull, a wench (call it whatever).
In a chat with an acquaintance who lives down the road, she noted that “. . . I have stopped using that road (referring to the road down Kotobabi junction off Spintex Road) in that when you do, you are either treated as one the prostitutes and get approached by young men or in some extreme situations, you get mugged by the thieves among them”. Another young man I shared a taxi with observed that “I am unable to take a leisurely walk down the road with my children because I do not want my children to see the rot that goes on on this road. It is very frustrating to watch core Ghanaian values being bastardized by immigrants while our leaders look on unconcerned”. A third resident noted with some despondency how the influx of Nigerian immigrants (in particular) is sending rental values skyrocketing in Accra. For my taxi driver, it is not the prostitution or rental values that borders him, it is the reckless abandon with which our leaders (the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary) appear to sit unconcerned while all these things are going on. Interestingly, I have seen police cars parked at various points on the road in the night. What I don’t know is whether they (the police) are there to serve as deterrents or to patronise the services of the prostitutes. Whatever the police are there to do, what I can say in no uncertain terms is that someone is not doing their job right and ought to be penalised for it.
The above does not seek to suggest that all (Nigerian) immigrants are bad. Indeed there are very hardworking, decent and virtuous (Nigerian) immigrants doing legitimate businesses in Ghana and creating employment opportunities for Ghanaians. And that has been the case since the days of yore. Those are the ones we need. The ones we don’t need are the rots and chavettes of Nigeria, Togo, Benin and other neighbouring African countries who are turning our streets into brothels and our homes into fraud factories. The ones we don’t need are the rude and aggressive ones who are taking the leniency and good nature of the average Ghanaian for a weakness. And those are the ones Government and the security agencies must be seen to be working on.
Understandably, addressing this issue is not as easy as I will like to think given that Ghana is a signatory to a number of international protocols and conventions. That notwithstanding, an open-border policy where every thief, prostitute and chavette is allowed into this country to operate without any effective checks is not an acceptable path to tread. Government must therefore be showing leadership in dealing with this time-bomb whose deadliness is potentiated by our rather languorous and lackadaisical attitude.

Sheriff Idriss-Yahya
Adamsheriff2008@gmail.com
Institute for Transport Studies
University of Leeds, UK