Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of Global Media Foundation (GloMeF), a human rights’ advocacy media organisation has appealed to the government to upgrade and make the country’s refugee camps worthy of living.
World Refugee Day is an international day designated by the United Nations to honour refugees around the globe.
It falls each year on June 20 and celebrates the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home countries to escape conflict or persecution.
The day also serves as an occasion to build empathy and understanding of the plight of refugees and to recognise their resilience in rebuilding their lives.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Monday in Sunyani, as the world marked the 2022 Refugee Day, Mr Ahenu expressed worry about the alleged lack of potable drinking water, poor condition of shelter and inadequate food supply at the refugee camps in the country.
Describing the situation as appalling and unfortunate, the GloMeF CEO, also a human right defender said nobody was born to be a refugee, but everybody could be a refugee, hence the need for the government to ensure that the living conditions of refugees were better.
Mr Ahenu said civil wars, political instability, drought, and famine as well as other natural disasters were common contributory factors that pushed people to flee their home countries, saying Ghana was gradually experiencing such indicators.
He said the current high unemployment situation in the country threatened national security and called on the government to be more proactive in creating decent jobs for the teeming unemployed youth.
“We are not praying that something should happen, but if you look at what is happening in the country now, nobody should tell you that we sit on a time bomb,” Mr Ahenu stated.
