• In a meeting on Friday, 10th April, 2020 between the Ghana Embassy in China, the National Executive Committee of the Ghanaian Communities Association and some Ghanaians living in Guangdong Province, His Excellency Edward Akwasi Boateng confirmed he had received several such reports.
Reports coming from the African Communities in China, Guangdong Province, has it that Africans are being unfairly targeted and subjected to inhumane treatment by Chinese authorities in the wake of imported COVID-19 cases in the country of which only a handful of such confirmed cases were Africans.
Over the past two days, videos purporting to expose this abuse have been splashed all over social media, with such extreme measures as being kicked out of legally binding contracted apartments and hotels without provocation.
For a little over two weeks now, the rate of domestic infections in mainland China have been on the low or absent in some cities, but imported cases have risen, with Chinese from the diaspora making up majority of such infections, the Chinese health ministry reported a week ago.
In a meeting on Friday, 10th April, 2020 between the Ghana Embassy in China, the National Executive Committee of the Ghanaian Communities Association and some Ghanaians living in Guangdong Province, His Excellency Edward Akwasi Boateng confirmed he had received several such reports. ‘I got a call 6 days ago from a Ghanaian in Guangzhou, who said some police and health officials are in his residence about a supposed compulsory covid-19 test for all foreigners in that region due to a resurgence of imported cases,’ Mr. Boateng said.
I followed up immediately with a call to the foreign affairs office of Guangdong Province and they confirmed such a decision has been put in place by the provincial government for foreigners with a travel history over the past 3 months. When I queried him about why my office hasn’t been served any official notice prior, he couldn’t give any convincing answer. Again, the Ghanaian who called me said he has no travel history recently, even as far as January.
After some back and forth with Mr. Lee, heard of foreign affairs in Guangdong Province, I told the young man to comply and do the test but I will follow up on the issue.’
According to reports from the African communities, the situation is selective and biased, as Caucasians are exempted from this exercise, with people being evicted from their apartments and hotels upon resisting to be tested. Some were also said to have been given a short notice to pack out of their apartments for no reason.
There are also reports of people with Chinese or Caucasian wives who were tested alone in the same apartments where they lived together with their spouses (and children in some cases) and forcefully taken to a quarantine center irrespective of the results of the test.
These among other activities have rendered some Africans homeless, putting their health in jeopardy on the streets of Guangzhou and its environs.
‘This is my lowest point since I set foot in China. The issues got to unbearable height on Thursday evening. We had to accommodate a Ghanaian at the mission with his baby and wife because he was evicted from his own apartment on a very short notice. We the African diplomats have met and discussed the issue with the national office of foreign affairs in Beijing, expressing our uttermost disgust at such barbaric treatment meted out to our brothers and sisters.
We will issue an official communique tomorrow and will not relent until this malicious treatment is stopped. The ministry of foreign affairs as well his Excellency Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo have been duly informed,’ Mr. Boateng added.
In the interim, Africans who may have been lucky to escape such treatment are been entreated to take their brothers and sisters in, as they are at a high risk of catching the deadly COVID-19 infection on the streets.
Credit to Source: Wentitrel News
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