Ghana’s Consumer Protection Agency is demanding the cancellation of a ban of matted woven bags, popularly referred to as ‘Ghana Must Go’, on the flights of two SkyTeam airlines – the KLM and Air France The airlines in June this year issued a notice to its travelling customers that the widely used bag would not be allowed on their airlines.
Bags packaged with cling film for food or wrapped in shape of ball are also allowed on KLM and Air France flights. It’s not clear what triggered the ban by the company but believed to have been influenced by similar ban in June, of the use of the bag in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Authorities at the Dubai International Airports explained the bags could disrupt baggage systems, which they said could lead to delays in delivery of baggage to the aircraft and inconvenience customers.
But the Consumer Protection Agency in Ghana says the decision to ban the use of Ghana Must Go bags on KLM and Air France flights is not only insulting but smacks of racism and decimation.
The bags, it said, has become “an African pride…our way of life” for most Africans, particularly those Ghanaians and Nigerians as well as West Africans in general “It is therefore an insult to our identity as Ghanaians and Africans in general who uses these matted bags, which is by our own make.
This decision is discriminatory, racist in nature and offends our rights of choice,” it said in a letter addressed to the country director of the airline.
“It’s quiet intriguing why these matted bags are allowed on other similar flights to Europe and around the world but being banned on SKY TEAM’S KLM and AIR FRANCE flights,” the letter dated July 6 and signed by Nana Prempeh Aduhene added. The Agency is consequently seeking an immediate cancellation of the ban, arguing it “infringes on individual taste and preference”.
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