Ghana to export labour

Spread (lead) Feb 23/2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine

THE ministries of Manpower, Youth and Employment and Finance and Economic Planning are working out common standards and policy to legally export skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labour to countries that need it as a way of stemming the tide of illegal migration.
The policy, which will be within the framework of a memorandum of understanding (MOU), is also intended to open more job avenues for the youth.
The Deputy Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Ms Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, dropped the hint at the steering committee meeting of the International Organisation For Migration (IOM) in Accra yesterday. It was under the auspices of the European Union and the IOM.
She indicated that the immediate target of the plan would be what she described as ‘friendly’ countries, including South Korea, Libya and Spain.
The deputy minister also used the occasion to inaugurate a committee to manage a project to facilitate a coherent migration management approach in Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Libya through an assessment of national labour migration management, matching supply of job opportunities to demand and addressing irregular migration flows through the provision of information.
Mrs Osei-Opare explained that Ghana was confronted with the problems of brain drain and illegal migration which often created grievous problems for the people, saying that it would be in the interest of both the user countries and Ghana to have the labour trained in a way that would benefit both parties.
She said Ghana and the countries that benefited from the skilled migrants stood to gain immensely if that collaboration was there.
Ghana suffers a major brain drain, particularly within the medical sector, as many freshly trained doctors leave the shores of Ghana to work in foreign countries, particularly the United Kingdom and the United States of America (USA).
The unskilled ones among them find dubious and dangerous means to migrate through Libya and other desert countries to places such as Spain and Italy.
Mrs Osei-Opare said such expeditions were not in the interest of those involved, Ghana or the countries they entered because of the illegalities involved with their move.
To her, “the meeting has come at an opportune time, considering the hue and cry over the fate and treatment of some of our compatriots and other citizens from the sub-region in some foreign countries, dubbed greener pastures”.
“I wish to advise that the discussions on the subject should be a win-win situation for the sending and receiving countries. This compromise will stem the tide of illegal migration, with its attendant adverse effects on both parties,” she added.
The Head of Delegation of the European Commission in Ghana, Mr Filiberto Ceriani Sebregondi, said the assemblage of various participants from different countries at the meeting underlined the importance of dialogue on migration management.
He said the IOM programme had all the ingredients to address the challenges which lay ahead to be able to achieve better and more coherent migration management.
Giving an overview of the project, Mr Jo Rispoli said “the project has major components — to enhance national capacities for labour migration management in Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Libya, as well as contribute to the development of mechanisms for the insertion of workers into the EU labour market through the testing of pilot mechanisms with Italy”.
Explaining why Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal were mostly targeted, he said those were the countries where the majority of the migrants emanated from.
He said Libya was added because many of the migrants who could not continue their journey ended up there.