Hey guys, this a very interesting and controversial topic that has been making a lot of waves in the Ghanaian media space and want to submit my piece on it.
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It all started when a Ghanaian living in the Netherlands made a video in which he stated emphatically and without remorse, while holding in his hand his Dutch Diplomatic passport, "having a Dutch Diplomatic passport is better than getting a PhD from the University of Ghana (Legon), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Cape Coast (UCC) and University for Development Studies (UDS)." He further went on to add "I mentioned Legon first because it is the premier university in Ghana, the rest are not important". As if the first statement was not shattering enough.
He goes by Kofi Gabs and he works as a cleaner in the Netherlands. Apparently, he was a graphic designer here in Ghana before moving to the Netherlands. Kofi and his Romanian wife, Sofi Domingo, have been in a relationship for over a decade and had children before he left Ghana for the Netherlands.
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I want us to delve in to unmask the reason why Kofi Gabs would make such a statement that tarnishes, so much, the image of his own motherland (Ghana). It turns out that Kofi Gabs had a very hard life in Ghana. Here is a photo showing how he was handled at the 37 military hospital in Accra, inside Ghana's capital city.
He was not given a bed, he had to receive "medical treatment" lying on the floor and as if that was not enough, according to him, the nurses and the other health practitioners there treated him with contempt. Life was tough here in Ghana and you could see why after reading a post by about the minimum wage situation in Ghana here.
Kofi Gabs finally emigrated to the Netherlands to join his wife where he realised that the grass was greener somewhere else. Systems put in place to govern and service citizens where working, where standards of living where much higher than in his home country. Even as a someone who cleans toilets for a living, according to him, he lives a better life than someone with a PhD in Ghana.
Making such a remark undoubtedly leaves a stain on the image of a country and the continent as a whole. PhD is the highest academic degree achievable. You only get a PhD through your own personal efforts, going to school, conducting research, etc. while a Dutch passport is just a piece of document you acquire by virtue of where you where born (the Netherlands) or by virtue of marital bondage, as in his case.
However, I don't completely disagree with him in a sense that, he is looking at what he can do with his newly acquired passport as against what a PhD holder in Ghana can do with his certificate. He claim he can attend a toilet cleaners' conference in the USA without a visa while a PhD holder in Ghana cannot attend a research conference in the USA without a visa.
I rest my case on this one, I will catch you again on another interesting conversation