Desperate Youths Queue In Rain For Visa

…No Tent, As Ghanaians Express Outrage At US Embassy

Some Ghanaians have expressed outrage after images of their compatriots in a long queue being beaten by rain at one of the embassies in Accra emerged on the internet.

The visa seekers, mainly youths, had thronged the United States (US) embassy at Cantonments, Osu-Accra, last week in a desperate quest to acquire traveling visa to that country for various reasons, mainly for greener pastures.

The applicants, who stood outside of the embassy’s huge building, without umbrellas, apparently had no place to sit for the rain to seize and so were soaked to the skin.

Among them were Ghanaian trained uniformed nurses, who, according to reports, have been ditching the nation’s health sector in droves, especially for the United Kingdom (UK) for sometime now.

The Anchor gathered this is not the first time, as this has been happening for many decades.

The images shared by Metro television journalist, Annie Afua Ampofo, showed a sizable number of Ghanaians, with different educational backgrounds, standing in the rain, with their documents at a distance waiting for their turn to get in.

“Why do foreign Embassies treat us this badly. This is the American Embassy…how long will this continue? Actually. It was drizzling when these pictures were taken,” she captioned them.

Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ketu South constituency Dzifa Abla Gomashie, who shared a thought under the post, called on the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, and the Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, to intervene in the situation.

As at yesterday, Sunday, August 20, four clear days after the photos were shared, no comment had been made by the two politicians.

One David Reck attempted an explanation to the situation, saying the visa seekers brought this upon themselves, because, often, they storm the embassy when their time is not even due.

He said there was not much the embassy can do under the circumstance unless the applicants learn the operations of the embassy.

“I think the US embassy works according to schedule, just that our people go and camp when their time is not due. What can the embassy do? Nothing. Our people must understand how the embassy works and act accordingly,” he said, under Annie’s post.

While some continued to call out the embassy for showing no compassion to the visa applicants, most blamed the situation on politicians for making the country very difficult to live in and work.

They said, but for the economic hardship, these individuals would have stayed to make their lives better.

One follower of the journalist, Bismark Okyere-Darko, who acknowledged this is the norm, said “My workplace is just around the place and I see this nonsense on a daily basis.”

“So why is the American embassy refusing to find a resting place for their clients? This is dehumanizing in the 21stCentury?” Charles Orleans-Mensah commented.

“This is so sad. This shows how our political leadership have destroyed the country leaving this youth with no hope and hopelessness,” Lamin Adnam also said.

But a presidential staffer in the person of Nana Hesse Ogyiri also commented, drawing the attention of the television presenter not to see this as out of the ordinary. He gave his perceptive of the situation, saying this has been the norm since the ’90s.

“Annie Ampofo, the first time I saw such a queue was in 1999, those days the embassy was located close to Buka restaurant. And, according to friends, it has been so when the embassy was located at now office of Women &Gender at ministries opposite, the Audit service headquarters. People patronizing the American Embassy has all been so. This is not news,” he said.

He further blamed the situation on Ghanaians penchant for travelling, even when they are doing well by themselves back home.

Source: Anchorghana.com