A NUMBER of Ghanaians who returned from Libya following the crisis which hit that country are crying foul over the non arrival of their goods eight or so months after coming home.
Fifty-seven year old Owusu Agyemang who spoke to DAILY GUIDE narrated the ordeal he and his other colleague returnees, some of whom live as far as the Northern region, have been going through since their return.
In the heat of the uprising, he noted that he and some other Ghanaians managed to flee the Libyan capital of Tripoli to the country’s border with Tunisia some 800km to Tunis where the International Organisation Migration (IOM) had a refugee camp.
According to him, they were hosted at the camp for a couple of days after which he and his colleagues were taken to the Tunis Airport.
Unfortunately, they were each allowed to bring along two 26kg pieces of luggage and asked to leave the rest of their belongings behind with a promise that they would be brought to them in Ghana, Mr Agyemang narrated
Though they were ready to pay for excess luggage, he noted the IOM officials declined and instead asked them to submit their names, addresses and contact numbers for easy identification when the goods get to Ghana. These details were said to have been tagged to their luggage but they have since not heard anything from the authorities.
Meanwhile, he said their colleagues from Nigeria and other countries who they met at the camp in Tunis received their goods about a week or so upon arrival in their respective countries.
An obviously disillusioned Mr Agyemang said several attempts to retrieve their goods from the IOM have proved unsuccessful since they keep referring them to the National Disaster Management Organiser (NADMO), a relief agency for claims.
He added that whenever they go to the NADMO office, officials there keep telling them stories.
On one occasion he said an official of the relief agency asked him to inspect some goods that had arrived but he was appalled by what he saw since they looked like scraps.
Officials of the IOM are not forthcoming with information on the matter.
The returnees have therefore made a passionate appeal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene and help them retrieve their goods.
Source: GhanaWeb
