PROTESTING THE INHUMANITY & ABUSE AGAINST LIBERIAN REFUGEES

IT IS A pity and shame that the Government of Liberia has taken side in favor of the aggressing Ghanaian government which has raided and imprisoned scores of vulnerable Liberian refugees in Ghana. Without establishing and appreciating the full details and accounts of the situation in Ghana , the Sirleaf Government has issued a statement denouncing its citizens for making “unlawful demands”, for causing “unjustified upheaval” and so forth. Having made those indicting statements, which obviously make the Liberian exiles more vulnerable and put them in the way for more harms, our government has announced that it is dispatching a delegation to Ghana at the earliest. For what? To conclude and seal the lynching of the vulnerable Liberian children and women?

FOR US, GOVERNMENT'S swift exaltation of Ghanaian security forces' arrest and detention of about 800 Liberian refugees, mostly women and children who were demonstrating for increased repatriation benefits or resettlement abroad is disappointing and shameful. The troubled Liberian citizens, brutally raided and bruised, and currently in the cells of Ghanaian prisons, don't deserve the nonchalance of the Liberian government. After all, the refugees were simply protesting what they considered unjust and an abuse. They were not burning cars. They were not obstructing traffic. They were not violent. They were simply doing what is sanctioned by the revered Universal Declaration of Human Rights, backed by the laws of all democratic nations: petitioning leaders. More besides, the women and children were not in any confrontation with the political establishment of Ghana . They were only drawing the attention of an agency of the United Nations, having oversight on refugee welfare.

THE LEAST EXPECTED from a government whose citizens are under attack in a foreign land is to call for security and safety of its citizens. It is to call for due process, since in fact the Ghanaian government failed to accord the raided and detained Liberian refugees a day in court. It is only after a legal process that the action of the refugees can be described “unlawful”, “disrespectful” and causing “unjustified upheaval.” It is after a due process that the “crime” of the refugees can be equated to deportation, imprisonment or otherwise.

IRONICALLY, WITHOUT REQUESTING the safety and security of its citizens, the Government of Liberia's first diplomatic language is to exalt Ghana and condemn its own citizens. While no one doubts the generosity of Ghana , it would be foolish for anyone to think that Liberia has not reciprocated. Thousands of Ghanaians have been living and making life worthwhile for themselves, their families and nation in Liberia . Many have been here working without Liberians showing any semblance of xenophobia, which is prevalent in other countries, including Ghana . And even before the war, when Liberians hardly traveled out of their country, Ghanaians were here exploiting our rich land to build mansions and palaces in Ghana .

INDEED, OUR GOVERNMENT has taken a shameful drift by thinking it can recompense Ghana “generosity” by trading the blood and tears of poor Liberian women and children by pampering and coddling Ghana's sheer aggression and intolerance against peaceful Liberian demonstrators. While we condemn the Liberian government's betrayal and mortgage of its citizens, we also deplore the Ghanaian government's for arbitrarily raiding and imprisoning Liberian refugees. We regard the attack and its sanction by the Sirleaf Government as a grand conspiracy to de-humanize, abuse and humiliate the vulnerable refugees. We hope sense will prevail to return the dignity to the people.