After ‘the return’ to Ghana: about some troubling questions from a black American

News of the conferment of Ghanaian citizenship on the legendary Stevie Wonder on May 13, 2024, must have been a breath of fresh air to many people, a ‘feel-good factor; that if someone like the famous American musician wanted to be identified as a Ghanaian too, then Ghana must be doing something right after all.

The superstar’s longstanding affinity with Ghana has been well documented, but it’s also gratifying that now, in Ghana 2024, he finally decided to realise his dream of American-Ghanaian citizenship. It’s an emphatic testimonial for a country going through challenging times; and against the backdrop of harsh assessments by opponents of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Notably, the ceremony at Jubilee House, Ghana’s seat of Government, which Mr Wonder attended with his wife and son, also marked his 74^th birthday. Conferring the citizenship, President Nana Akufo-Addo reportedly “praised Stevie Wonder for his outstanding contributions to music and his unrelenting dedication to the African diaspora … (adding) that his visit to Ghana would help to strengthen the ties between Africa and its diaspora.”

But Ghanaians had hardly finished savouring the news about Stevie Wonder’s dual citizenship, when a video surfaced online, with the arresting headline, “WE ARE DONE WITH AFRICA” and the somewhat puzzling caption under images of two black ladies illustrating it, “Black American FORCED to leave Africa”.

It features a tirade against Ghana, by an unnamed black lady, evidently American. She reels off the negative experiences of black Americans who have responded to the 2019 innovative, definitive invitation by President Akufo-Addo and the NPP, for African diasporans to consider Ghana their roots, return home and be assured of a warm ‘akwaaba’ (welcome). Thus 2019 was appropriately dubbed “The Year of Return”.

As Wikipedia explains, the year 2019 “was an important year throughout the African diaspora — the 400th year since enslaved Africans first arrived in the United States. In Ghana — once the center of the European slave trade — 2019 was declared "the year of return" and the start of a campaign to encourage descendants of enslaved Africans to re-connect with the land of their ancestors.”

In the video, though laced with some bad language, the frustration that prompted the lady’s bitterness is almost palpable. The following are excerpts:

THE VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

“There are Americans coming over here being nasty; doing nasty things and being bad to the locals. Now let’s talk about the fact that we get abused, too.

“You invited us to come home, which we did by the thousands. You cheat us out of a lot of stuff. We came running to Ghana; people sold their houses… some packed up into containers … (only) to get over here and realise that this is not our home!

“You call us foreigners! Ghanaians call us foreigners! We don’t know if that is what you call the white people and the Chinese, because we’re not around them. I never heard the word before I came to Ghana.

“Let’s talk about what you do to us, starting from the airport – no! before we get to the airport we’ve got to have a visa, that we pay (US300) for, to even enter our home! We pay all this money to enter our home!

“(At the airport) as soon as (they) see a blue (American) passport, everybody is coming for us: ‘can you give me something small, small?’ At the Covid place; at Immigration …”

“You get to baggage (and, for example) a person grabbed my bag and put it on a cart; I gave him five dollars. He looked at me and said ‘I don’t want that!’ I said, what do you mean you don’t want it? What did you expect? He said ten dollars! I said, you want me to give you over 100 cedis (just) for picking up a bag (and) putting it on a cart? (He doesn’t know this is my fifth time of coming through the airport.

“I have never been in any country or state where openly it says (for example) 60 dollars for foreigners and 30 dollars for locals; (but) that is our experience at the (tourist attractions here), Kakum Park; at the Castle…

“I’ve never seen that anywhere – US, Mexico and Canada – where it says if you’re a local you pay three dollars for a Coca Cola but if you’re a foreigner you pay eight dollars!

“And nobody (at any airport) has ever asked me for money. I have only seen that in Ghana!”

Continuing, she used the following evocative analogy:

“(Regarding) the process of coming home: we got stolen from our birth mother and father, and our mother finds us and (then she) says you need to pay 300 dollars – that’s (for) the visa …We decide we want to stay (and our Mother) says you have to pay me 1000 dollars every year to stay – that’s the Residency – even though she invited us home after we were stolen! For the citizenship you pay 3000 each,” she said.

Unfortunate that the video’s narrator doesn’t state her name, but her concerns are understandable – and troubling. I sum up the four main ones in her words:

• “If this is home, why do we have to pay?
• “Why aren’t our visas free?
• “If this is home, why do we have to pay to be resident?
• “If this is home, why isn’t our citizenship automatically given to us?” she asks.

Undoubtedly, the 2019 invitation by Ghana was applauded, but could it be that the lady’s emotional outburst reflects a simmering discontent reality?

I forwarded the video to Akwasi Agyeman, CEO of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) for his comments:

GHANA TOURISM AUTHORITY’S RESPONSE

The identity of the person in the video is not known to us and we have sought assistance from the Diaspora Coalition to locate her.

The price discrimination that she mentions is real and dates back to the 1990s. The aim of such fees, according to sources, was to encourage domestic tourism but I think it has outlived its usefulness. These rates are determined by Parliament in collaboration with various sites and attractions that are not necessarily owned by the GTA. However we have engaged the (Parliamentary) Select Committee on it before and will follow up.

The high charges charged by locals are a point of concern. The individual in the video questions why returning members of the diaspora are facing such financial hurdles, especially when they have been encouraged to come back to their roots. This discrepancy in the fees, despite the invitation extended to them, raises valid concerns.

We have been dealing with the issues under the steering committee and engagement with other agencies. There is in the offing a Homeland Return Act which will address a few of the issues.

The above notwithstanding, there are (numerous) success stories of diasporas who have come to Ghana, have well integrated and are contributing significantly to the economy, Mr Agyeman concluded.

MY VIEW

I am very much encouraged by the GTA response. Commendably, Mr Agyeman accepts that some of the problems enumerated in the video are real and the GTA is working to resolve them.

Diasporan returnees shouldn’t get the impression that they made a mistake, that there is no ‘akwaaba’ for them; adding to the unfortunate misconceptions in the African diaspora about Africa and Africans.

However, it seems to me that the ‘Homeland Return Act’ he mentions is a policy that should have been in place by now; complementing the 2019 invitation. Presumably, it addresses the identified shortcomings.

Surely, as the GTA indicates, the practice of price differentials needs to be scrapped immediately. Indeed, to me such a clear discriminatory policy should never have been introduced.

Personally, in all my travels in different countries, I have never encountered a situation where I had to pay different prices for items or services, simply because I was a foreigner.

As for the ‘begging attitude towards ‘foreigners’, unfortunately, the unpalatable truth is that anybody visiting from abroad, including native Ghanaians, is considered ‘fair game’ by ‘locals’ – viewed as people who must be rich and therefore who can afford to part with some money.

Issues highlighted in the video should lead to urgent remedial measures. Still, it’s noteworthy that, despite her grievances, the lady reveals that she has visited Ghana five times. Contrary to the video’s headlines, it indicates that she hasn’t given up on Ghana, or Africa.

Nevertheless, even if despite the anomalies, some diasporans have still relocated to Ghana, such discordant practices as listed above need to be addressed ASAP, to give full meaning to the bold 2019 invitation and the proverbial Ghanaian ‘akwaaba’.