There surely are many more Evelyn Boakyes around today and indeed every day. Evelyn is the Ghanaian female employee of the Marwako Restaurant whose face was allegedly dipped in blended pepper for more than 10 minutes by a supervisor of the restaurant.
Many young Ghanaians employed in various capacities by expatriates in this country suffer needless abuse every day at the hands of their employers and their accomplices.
For meagre salaries, these young employees are made to undertake demeaning jobs in uncomfortable and unsafe environments. Efforts of their hard work and contributions to the success and profitability of their employers’ businesses go unrecognised.
And so, the story which has made the rounds since last Sunday and which has captured the headlines across all media platforms, including social media, has been received by many with disappointment and anger. It has now been referred to as the “Marwako and the pepper girl”, in some circles.
The story is that on Sunday, February 26, 2017, the alleged victim, Evelyn Boakye, was asked by the Lebanese supervisor of the restaurant to help at another department where she was asked to blend pepper to be used to season chicken. After she blended the first lot, she realised that the sound of the blender was a bit abnormal so she decided to turn it off to check if there was a problem. It was at that point that the supervisor chanced on her and assaulted her for trying to damage the blender. The supervisor is said to have poured the pepper on a table and dipped her face in it.
Three other employees who were present at the time their colleague was being maltreated were said to have looked on helplessly due to the threat from the supervisor to dismiss anyone who came close.
Evelyn Boakye’s ordeal did not stop there. According to the story which was first reported by the Daily Graphic in its Saturday, March 4, 2017 issue, she was allegedly locked up for nearly six hours by the supervisor while her face, though she managed initially to get it rinsed with water, continued to irritate her.
Admittedly, this supervisor could not have done such a thing to an employee of his in his own country, no matter the provocation. But for the fact that we ourselves tend to stoop too low to expatriates even when they trample on our rights, simply because they put food on our tables, they do not respect. Most of the time, they get away with murder, sometimes, with the connivance of our own locals.
It is definitely inhuman for anyone to do what the supervisor is accused of doing and to go to the extent of locking her up for good six hours. Whether it is dipping the girl’s face in pepper or splashing the face with the hot stuff, somebody’s dignity was abused and harm was caused.
In times past, there used to be numerous reports on labour related issues involving expatriates working in this country and their local employees. Some were slapped across the face, some were spat on, others received and continue to receive humiliating insults while many more have been bashed around and called names for one reason or the other while earning their daily living in their places of work.
Though not all the complaints have been made public, one believes that no human being, based on their colour, race, or superiority has the right to dehumanise another and certainly not in their own backyard.
It is time for those who live under our largesse and who have found comfort in our proverbial Ghanaian hospitality and the fear of God (“Nyame nti”), to respect our laws and our people. They have been given the opportunity to settle in here as their second homes with their families. They should rather be grateful and not abusive.
So, on the back of the pepper case, one wishes to condemn all the attacks, verbal or physical, on local employees by their expatriate employers. We ask that they accord respect and dignity to the people through whose toil and service their homes are kept clean and tidy on daily basis and their businesses kept running.
The employers should learn to control their furies and act civil towards their employees. That is the least the labour laws require of them. The Marwako pepper girl issue was way below the belt. It should not be condoned in anyway. Many more of such abuses should come in the open for public condemnation. Many more Evelyn Boakye’s should be bold and speak up, going forward.
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