Women protest settlement in Ghana

By O’Burphy Richlue

Women residents of the Buduburam Refugee Settlement have been boycotting normal activities to express their dissatisfaction over plans to reintegrate Liberian refugees into the Ghanaian society. The peaceful demonstration exercise is characterized by group gathering at the entrance of the camp in a field under the scorching sun at day and sleeping in the dews at night, fasting and praying, and boycotting even the UNHCR/WFP ration distribution of maize and oil.

The hundreds of Liberian women, who have no leader, can be seen with banners and posters with inscriptions carrying messages. Some of the inscriptions on the posters and banners include”: “To be a refugee is not a crime. Stop! The humiliation.” Others read 'Discrimination! Resentment! Prejudice! Injustice! All against us!!” and “International Community, please hear our plead. We are tired with this protracted refugee situation.” They have said they will not stop until they can get responses that will be favorite and in their best interest and the interest of their children and husbands.

The desperate crowd of Liberian refugee women has said they are advocating for an increase in the repatriation package from $5 to at least $1,000 or resettlement to a third country of asylum.

Like other refugees, Tenneh A. Kamara told me in an interview that the Liberian Refugee Welfare Council (LRWC) has changed its position to that of Public Relations Officers of the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR. They are noting this because to them, the LRWC is not seeking their welfare but rather acting on behalf of the UNHCR, something that is unimaginable to her.

She wants the international community, policies makers and donors to know that Liberians are still here in Ghana and are not getting their entitlements, such as health care, education, work and access to the Ghanaian market. Therefore, they are saying they don't want to be in Ghana next year.

"We are tired,” she said. “Integration is not an option.”

She added that they are not just a group of people saying donors should resettle them. According to them, there are people who deserve resettlement. There are people with documents stating they have been resettled but still here in Ghana and people who started the resettlement process but it came to a halt. These people are qualified for it and they should be resettled or be repatriated in dignity with a package of $1,000 and other items.

Honorable Varney B. Sambola, III; chairman of the LRWC, have said he don't understand their points and their activities do not have the support and backings of the Council.

To Mr. Sambola, if Liberian refugees have problems, the Council should be called upon to champion their cause. And that a group of people should not just wake up and start to do what they think is right. He added that if the group of women had come to the Council and identified themselves and presented their case, the Council could have even collaborated with them in drawing the attention of the international community if they deem it right.

All attempts to hear from the Settlement Manager, who is the Ghana government representative in the settlement, were unsuccessful.

However, there are divergent views in the settlement about the women's peaceful demonstration, as to whether or not it is right and necessary.

Rev. Togba Andrew Kaijay, an influential resident and a classroom teacher, tried justifying the rightfulness of the women's action with his fear for the fourth deportation of Liberians from Ghana. He said Liberians need to do all they can to get out of Ghana because if they opt for integration, in no time, they will be deported back to Liberia for unjustified reasons, such as lack of productivity, not enough jobs for even Ghanaians and the like.

He made reference to previous deportation of Liberians from Ghana during the regimes of late presidents William V. S. Tubman, William R. Tolbert and Samuel K. Doe to caution Liberians about the attitude of Ghanaians.

A founding member and Project Ambassador of the RESPECT Intellectual Club, an Initiative of RESPECT Ghana and a One world Youth Project, Harenton Cashier Chea said he is in support of the women, though he does not think they should stop their children from going to school. He based his point on the fact that students of the 9th grade (JSS III) and 12th grade (SSS III) are getting prepare to write their Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) in April and the West Africa Senior Secondary Schools Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) later in September, and nothing should be done to disturb their studies.

He added that children have the right to education so stopping them from going to school is an infringement on their fundamental human rights. He therefore called on the Buduburam Central Education Board (BCEB) to do something about parents who are stopping their children from going to school.

Mr. Chea was very keen on the appeal for the $1,000 by the women. To him, calls for $1,000 after 18 years of exile should be revisited because it cannot cater for a person for three complete months with the basic necessities of life. He said he is very much in favor of the women's first option of resettlement because an appeal for even $2,200 cannot really cater to a person returning to Liberia after 18 years of stay in exile taking into consideration things like the economy, building, establishment.

He concluded by saying, after war in every country, people are supposed to be repatriated, but UNHCR Ghana did not really invest much into higher education for Liberian refugees during the exile period. They claim that the UNHCR services are free but they don't seem to be so. He noted the fact that there are a lot of high school graduates in the settlement, but did not go further than that.

Many of the women said they would not stop their appeal "until Jesus comes." They explained Jesus' coming to be the durable solution they are opting for. The exercise intensified over the period as the women are beginning to go on the field with their children to be part of the demonstration exercise.

The men are very much in support of what their mothers and wives are doing. But according to some, the women have asked them to stay out of the process. The women say they are capable of championing the cause in the interest of every Liberian refugee living in Ghana.

Apparently, the men are on the other hand planning to use another peaceful means to add their voices to that of their wives and mothers to draw the international community attention to the plight the Liberian refugees are facing in Ghana. They say people know men to be violent people but they are about to show to the international community, UNHCR Ghana and every stakeholder concern that indeed Liberian men are intelligent and peaceful people who know what is right.

The UNHCR Ghana has yet to be seen in the settlement addressing the concerns being raised by the Liberian refugee women.