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Ghanaian migrants’ workers over the years have contributed enormously to the growth of the economy in diverse ways.

Empirical Evidence indicates that $ 1.4 Million transfers were recorded in 2004 by Bank of Ghana as a remittance inflow.

More so, International Labour Migration has also aided in reducing the high rate of unemployment in the country.

It is obvious that, these industrious migrants do not only contribute to the growth of their economy; but also to their destination countries.

In recent times, Ghanaian youth and the working class have embarked on travels to various countries especially to the Gulf countries in search of jobs and to advance their careers.

Unfortunately, some of these travels have been aggravated especially in the Gulf countries which have called for concern among Ghanaians and the government.

These are some of challenges the migrants have been going through:
Abuse and exploitation of migrant workers in the host countries,
Malpractices by private recruitment agencies involving high fees and misleading information,
Loss of critical skills in developing countries and deskilling of migrant workers in destination countries
Growth of irregular migration , including its worst manifestation of trafficking and smuggling and Discrimination and poor integration of migrants in host countries.

The menace has been a serious headache to the government and its stakeholders over the years.

However, in order to sanitize the system, government has taken a giant step by collaborating with Private Employers Guild Ghana (PEGG) which was launched over the weekend in Accra.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, under theme: “The labour migration front; Opportunities, Challenges Solutions”, the President of Private Employers Guild Ghana (PEGG) , Mr.Zack Rahman, noted that the youth with inner burning desire to seek for greener pastures migrate from their homelands in the quest of improving their economic live hood.

“Often times, we have heard stories of abuse and maltreatments of our migrants in other countries, one of such is the recent happenings of Ghanaians been enslaved in Libya according to reports.

What we can do as a nation to address this issue of migration of our citizens especially the youth; is to regulate and initiate strict compliance of legal regime in the labour industry,” he stated.

It is in this regard, the Private Employment Guild, Ghana is working closely with the government and relevant stakeholders to address this pressing issue.

“Our aim, is to do everything possible in our capacity to sanitize the operations of this industry, to remove the bad nuts and serve as a pressure group to offer suggestions to relevant stakeholders of this industry,” he noted.

According to him, they want the government to regard as the new and improved recruitment industry, thus bringing transparency in their operations in order to lift the image of Ghana high.

For his part, Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations Hon. Bright Wireko Brobbey hinted that International migration is now on high on national, regional and global policy agendas.
He said it is in this light, the government is putting measures in place to screen and also regulate the labour migration industry as a way of sanitizing the business for mutual benefit of all stakeholders.

Mr. Brobbey also noted government is proposing to undertake the following critical measures such as ensuring that all recruitment agencies are well licensed and certified and appropriate complaint mechanisms and desks are set up and are accessible at host countries for reporting and addressing cases of abuse and exploitation.

The Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations works with Embassies especially the Gulf countries to orient all potential travelers to their contact; culture issues, travelling procedures protocols before visas are issued to them
He has therefore entreated all and sundry especially the stakeholders to continue to cooperation with the government in order to bring sanity into the labour migration.