Stranded Ghanaians Want To Stay In Barbados

Some of the Ghanaians who arrived in Barbados almost four weeks ago on an inaugural direct flight from the African nation do not want to leave Barbados. They want Government to give them work permits so that they can stay on and work. "We will prefer if they give us work permits so that we can stay and find better work," a spokesman for a group of ten of the stranded men told the WEEKEND NATION yesterday. The men have been working on a construction site since they ran out of money, but yesterday their employment status also became uncertain. A supervisor at the site said they would not be able to continue to hire the men because of all of the publicity. "We wanted to help them out because we have been having difficulties getting workers. We put several advertisements in the paper but people would only come and work a few days or a few hours. These men are willing to work but if immigration discovers that we hired them, we would be fined $10 000 per person. My boss does not want to take that chance," he said. Four of the men have already left the construction site. "They left and are looking for work elsewhere and a place to stay because their landlord saw the story and told them he did not want any problems with immigration," the spokesman added. He said their relatives in Ghana had also been reading about them on the Internet and were beginning to get concerned. Asked if the plane were to return for them if they would leave, the man said "no". Meanwhile, Government issued a statement last week saying efforts were under way to get the stranded Africans back home.