The Member of Parliament for Wa Central, Rashid Pelpuo, has urged the Ghana Police Service to thoroughly investigate the case of an abused employee of Marwako restaurant at Abelemkpe in Accra.
A young lady who works at the restaurant, over the weekend had her face shoved into a bowl of hot pepper by her Lebanese supervisor and subsequently prevented from leaving the workplace until several hours later.
The case, which is being handled by the police, has generated a lot of public interest and has raised many concerns about the treatment meted out to Ghanaians in various companies own by their foreign nationals.
According to the former Minister of State at the Presidency in Charge of Private Sector Development and Public Private Partnership (PPP), such harsh treatment which has been ongoing in the country must not be allowed to continue.
“We must ensure that this issue is followed to the latter. So many of them have happened in this country. So many of our compatriots have suffered at the hands of people who don’t treat them as if we are in a country of laws.” “This should not happen in this country. We have laws in this country. We have laws about how employers and employees should relate. You don’t just treat someone like that, attack their personality just because they are working for you,” he said.
He added that, “this is unacceptable. But I want to beg the police, I know they are professionals, follow this to the letter. Let us see them in court.
Let them face the full rigours of the laws. If they are guilty let the law take its course. This thing must stop and there must be some deterrence.”
He lamented that similar cases are not followed up and are allowed to die “a natural death” and urged that this must be followed to ensure that foreigners who run businesses in the country do not maltreat their Ghanaian staff.
‘What actually happened’
A Lebanese national, who is a Supervisor at the Abelemkpe branch of the Marwako Restaurant, Jihad Chaaban, is said to have grabbed the head of his Ghanaian female staff and dipped her face in blended pepper.
Jihad is also alleged to have subsequently locked her up with the burning and hurting eyes, preventing the other worried colleagues from helping her. The lady, whose name has been withheld in an interview with Citi News, said she did not do anything wrong to provoke the attack.
“I went to work on Sunday, and while working, one of my supervisors told me to go and blend fresh pepper. So I was blending the fresh pepper and one of the white men came out and started saying that I will spoil the blender. He asked if I couldn’t see that the blender was making noise, and I told him I was blending fresh pepper”, she said.
Narrating the incident, she stated that, “he took the blender and poured the pepper out, and put my face into the blender and the pepper entered my eyes so I washed my face and the situation worsened”.
She added that, the managers of the facility prevented her from going home after the incident “so that I wouldn’t report the case”.
Confirming the incident to Citi News, the Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, ASP Effia Tenge, said Jihad has been arrested and granted a police enquiry bail as investigations continue.
She also added that, the victim has been given some medical forms to seek medical treatment.
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