Hundreds of Ghanaians have been left stranded in Dubai after their travel agency abandoned them.
They claim that the agents enticed them into paying large sums of money for job placements, only to be abandoned when they arrived in the United Arab Emirates City.
The majority of these young people, who live in Deira, Dubai, blamed their predicament on Ghana’s unemployment problems.
“I came to Dubai for greener pastures,” one of the stranded Ghanaians told about his motivation for visiting Dubai.
Some had to spend all of their savings; others had to sell homes; and still others had to take out loans in order to execute their exit from the nation.
They are motivated by fantastical stories about how everything is fine in other countries, only to discover that things are not so wonderful.
Emmanuel Adjei, a three-year resident of Dubai, explains how difficult it is to find work.
“Things aren’t turning out the way we expected. Only through an agent can you find work, but their fees are high and they are untrustworthy.”
A visit to Deira, a town synonymous with Makola in Accra and seen as Dubai’s commercial hub, revealed Ghanaians sitting in pairs on a lawn with other foreign nationals, mostly Africans.
It became out that these were people who were homeless and had nowhere to go.