Some African Diaspora visiting Ghana on the popular Year of Return (YOR) train are beginning to complain about glaring exploitation by some Ghanaian businesses and traders.
Social media is beginning to light up with experiences of some of these returnees whole had had a bad first impression about Ghana and its people.
Recently, Ghanaian Celebrity Beverly Afaglo Baah, did a video post on social media complaining bitterly about how the famous Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra ripped her and her friends off.
According to Ms Baah who apparently visited the hotel with some returnee friends for a Buffet, the shylock hotel management charged them approximately GHC 300 each for a buffet which normally cost about GHC 120.
“…so because we have visitors in the country, you want to milk them?” She asked.
It appears the Jubilee House has caught wind of the indiscriminate milking of visitors, as the President’s cousin and key advisor, Gabby Assare Otchere-Darko recently went on Twitter begging businesses to be considerate.
Gabby wrote: “If you want those who have returned to return please don’t overcharge them. We beg!”.
The YOR has been a major international hit that has attracted scores of American showbiz superstars to visit in the past year.
Their visits is said to have caused a chain reaction among their fans who are eager to experience Ghana. Already, Ghana is said to have issued over 500,000 more visa last year due to requests from YOR returnees.
However, returnees are beginning to see beyond the glitters of hospitality and culture. They are beginning to complain about the exploitation going on against them by “inconsiderate” traders, businesses and service providers.
A narration by Paul Boakye, a Ghanaian-born British writer and blogger has gone viral on social media.
Mr. Boakye, narrates his experience of how virtually the average Ghanaians has a mercenary mindset to rip visitors off. “Everyone in Ghana is Godly. They go to church and pray every day, Yet like that crafty spider, Anansi, many people will tie you up in a web of lies and sinful deceit without a thread of guilt or any sense of moral consideration,” he wrote.
The blogger also cited the rampant scams returnees are being subjected to in the ragtag land and home acquisition industry in Ghana.
For him, the Akufo Addo administration is only paying lip-service to the YOR initiative that has been hailed as a massive success. “ So while the President offers lip service about African American and Caribbean people returning ‘home; to aid the development of Ghana, expect nothing much from the various government mouthpieces at Jubilee House and elsewhere. You might think any department that exists to help diaspora returnees would have an approved list of estate agents in a marketplace renowned for real estate ripoffs,”
According to him, when confronted with the particular issue of real estate scams, the Director of Diaspora Affairs Akwasi AwuaH Ababio retorted, “We are not estate agents”!
Observers and critics think the Akufo Addo administration should move beyond the optics of the YOR and initiate programmes to protect returnees from home-grown scammers and exploiters.
The government recently launched an initiative called “Beyond the Return” to consolidate the gains from the YOR, but critics think, this will still not address the pertinent issues bordering on the daily experiences of returnees and they integrate into the Ghanaian society.