Budumbura — Life has become unbearable for Liberians from the Budumburam refugee camp in Ghana, 22 days after an unexpected demolition of their homes by Ghanaian authorities that has left a little over 11,000 Liberians stranded in that country, crying of starvation as they are being asked to return home.
The unbearable situation has led to physical assault of women and children by unrecognized Ghanaian authorities.
They are also being driven off the street and from school buildings that are now used as shelter.
The Liberian refugees are expressing frustrations over being disregarded, ill-treated by authorities, and losing their homes without notification, as hardship worsens their plight daily.
Mr. Gwion Dennis, spokesperson for the Liberians, complained that Liberian authorities back home through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Monrovia are paying deaf ears to their situation, as they remain in a desperation situation yearning to return home amidst maltreatment, following Tuesday, February 28, 2024, demolition that left them homeless.
Some two weeks ago, the Gomoa Fetteh Traditional Council of Ghana, headed by the Traditional Chief of the Fetteh stool land, Nana Abor Attah, led the demolition of the Buduburan camp, leaving thousands of occupants homeless, both Liberians and Ghanaian citizens.
Mr. Gwion told the NEW DAWN that the demolition was done forcefully without the Ghanaian Authority's notification, which has frustrated them.
According to him, the demolition was executed by unidentified individuals, accompanied by Traditional Chiefs of the Fetteh Council, who demolished their houses, beating children and striping women naked, sending them away to seek rescue at the Pupils of Gomoa Buduburam Point Hope Basic School. In contrast, others were left to sleep in the streets.
"We are suffering and in extreme hardship with torture and torment from those wicked Ghanaians. Our women have been beaten, with few of them sick and others wounded, but the Liberian government feels they don't owe duty of care to Liberians here", he narrates.
Gwoin alleged that he himself was beaten and jailed while trying to seek refuge for his people, lamenting that efforts to contact the Liberian Embassy in Ghana and the Liberian Refugees, Repatriation & Resettlement Commission (LRRRC) turned out fruitless, with no response.
"My brother, we have been left without any hope, as we have tried our best to contact all requisite authorities to return home, but our government feels they don't owe us care," he laments.
Meanwhile, an unrecognized authority of the Gomoa East Region of Ghana, Darko Quarm, told the NEW DAWN via Messenger on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, that the Government of Ghana has played no part in the partial demolition of the Buduburam camp housing thousands of Liberian refugees.
But Gwion thinks the Government of Ghana is throwing stones and hiding by sponsoring the demolition of the camp and ill-treatment being meted against them.
According to reports, thousands of Liberians who fled the country during the civil war have been living in the Budumburam camp in Ghana since 1990. It may be recalled that in 2010, the Ghanaian Refugee Board reached an agreement with the UNHCR to close down the Buduburam camp, as Liberians there were given option to return to Liberia or remain in Ghana.
However, Samuel Davis, the communications director at the Liberian Refugees Repatriation & Resettlement Commission (LRRRC) in Monrovia, says Liberians in Ghana are former refugees, as they no longer bear such status.
Mr. Davis stressed that in 2022, the Government of Liberia, through the (LRRRC) held a multi-stakeholders meeting with authorities here, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and dispatched a team to Ghana at the time to profile Liberians living there when it was established that there was one thousand, five hundred and thirty-nine (1539) former Liberian refugees in Ghana, and of that number at least 500 accepted to be repatriated and were brought home.
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However, he explains that at the time of their repatriation, there was a transitional process, and a new government took power, which halted the exercise.
Reiterating that the former Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC)-led government had provided US$240,000 of an amount of $1.5 million to prepare for the repatriation of the former Liberian refugees, the balance of money was due to complete the program by bringing the entire batch of 500 home when the transition took place, thus suspending all activities.
Mr. Davis says the LRRRC is deeply concerned about the situation in Ghana and is working beyond all cylinders to have a team dispatched to Ghana to find an amicable solution to the problem there.
