General News of Wednesday, 20 June 2018
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
2018-06-20
Mustapha Hamid, Information Minister
The Minister of Information, Mustapha Hamid has urged all Ghanaians to support and lend a helping hand to refugees in the country.
Recounting his past experience, having witnessed the harsh treatment his biological father received as a refugee, he noted that the state of becoming a refugee is not by choice, the more reason victims of such circumstances need all the help and support they can get.
“I have a direct experience with the refugee phenomenon, my father was a refugee for 16 years and I can tell you the psychological trauma and retardation that put me through. The threats it posed to my education tells me that refugees and the refugee situation is something that every human should be concerned with” he said
Mr Hamid spoke about the millions of children around the world who do not know the whereabouts of their fathers and mothers and how little their chances of surviving are because of the refugee phenomenon. He said, its high time, individuals, organizations and agencies support the effort of the United Nations in every possible way.
“To me the refugee’ situation is not anecdotal to me, I have found myself in that situation before so it is true, and that situation can happen to anyone”…..”.”Let us not resist them, let us welcome refugees because we are all human fundamentally before we are white or brown and people become refugees not of their own making, it is not one of the choices that we make in life” he said
The minister pledged utmost support to helping the course of refugees on behalf of government, stressing the importance of psychological and material backing for such persons.
“ Our doors are open to the UNHCR that whatever it takes to make their work easier we are prepared to lend that support to make life bearable for people who flock our land for refuge” he said.
On his part, the Chairman of the Ghana Refugees Board, Prof Kenneth Attafuah, while acknowledging the challenges that come with hosting refugees also emphasized the importance of recognizing opportunities that accompany it and utilizing them to the country’s benefit.
“Many refugees come with skills and experiences that we as the host nation can harness” he said
According to him, refugees in Ghana have generally been welcomed, many of them are actually beneficiaries of social interventions and social protection programs in the country.
He said, approximately 68.5 million people are forcefully displaced worldwide adding that though the government has been supporting refugees in the country, “It is imperative that individuals, organizations and society at large enhance the effort that are necessary in other to ensure better protection for refugees” he said.
Mr. Hamid and Mr. Attafuah were speaking at an event organized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to commemorate the World Refugee Day in Accra.