The Employment and Labour Relations Minister-Designate, Ignatius Baffuor Awuah, has indicated that a roadmap has been submitted to cabinet for consideration on the measures to employ to lift the temporary ban on employment by agencies to the ‘Gulf’ countries.

He said this while responding to questions asked by the Parliamentary Appointments Committee during his vetting.

The government in 2017 placed a ban on Ghanaians seeking employment in parts of the Gulf due to reported cases of abuse on some Ghanaian domestic workers in those countries.

The countries included Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.

“I have submitted the roadmap to the cabinet and I believe that it will be one of the first issues to look at when the new cabinet comes in place,” he said.

He stated that the Employment Ministry has put in measures to enrol a training programme for beneficiaries before lifting the ban to make them readily available for the job market.

“We have developed bilateral agreements with some of the countries so that the recruitment process becomes clean and also reduces the abuse.”

The Minister-designate further stated that “Hitherto, we had no legislation but with the support of the ministry, this house [parliament] passed the domestic work legislation which is part of the work; and we have also included some form of training to the potential employees, I have submitted the roadmap to the cabinet and I believe that it will be one of the first issues to look at when the new cabinet comes in place”

Meanwhile, the Minister-designate also told the committee that “the government has been able to create about three million jobs at the end of the year 2020”.