I
won't be too surprised if you are a Ghanaian and haven't heard the
name Jewel Ahiable or heard his story. Frankly I would never have
heard of him if he wasn't my girlfriend's cousin. A quick Google search will have you wondering how and why you haven't heard his
story. This is a real life Captain Phillips story.
On
March
29, 2010, the
Ship MV Iceberg 1 was captured by Somalian Pirates who demanded a
$10 million ransom to release the ship and its crew. At the time of
the attack, the Panamanian-flagged ship had a crew of 24, made up of
8 Yemenis, 6 Indians, 4 Ghanaians (Jewel Ahiable, Edward Kofi Asare, Francis Koomson Senior and Prince Agbo.), 2 Sudanese, 2 Pakistani and 1
Filipino. The ship owners refused to pay the ransom and this beganthe longest held hijacked ship in modern history.
From
March 29, 2010 to December 23, 2012 the crew members were held and
tortured. They were permitted to make occasional desperate phone
calls to the outside world to describe their plight – a way for
pirates to apply pressure in the negotiating process – but for two
years and nine months of captivity, nobody answered their pleas for
help.
The
families of the Ghanaian captives tried to petition the Ghanaian
government at the time to help bring the captives home but they were
constantly frustrated by the 'Powers that be' and by bureaucracy.
According to the government they didn't want any public attention
around the incident so
that the pirates didn't get too excited.
I've
attached a soundcloud audio of Jewel Ahaible and the other crew
members narrating their ordeal on Citi FM after their rescued.
audio edited by Esianyo Kumodzi
At the time of the rescue Ghanaians
were still reeling from the death of President Atta Mills and the
tension around the December 7th election was still fresh.
The news of their rescue would definitely have lifted the mood of the
country. I've seen on TV the kind of reaction that followed the
rescue of people in perilous situation. The Chilean Miners' rescue
and the Hiatian Man found 11 days after the Earthquake being examples.
Since the Government did not contribute
anything whatsoever to their rescue and return, the least they could
have done was welcome them and created some sort of fan-fair about
their rescue but no. They arrived quietly with just Citi FM and their families to meet
them. In fact, their rescue was celebrated by Somalians and not
Ghanaians. They were hosted by the Somalian President and rode in
luxury cars on the streets of Somalia with people cheering them
everywhere.
After 3 years of being tortured they
received no compensation or the pay due them during the period. The
company that owned the ship owed them a few months pay before the
ship set off and that hasn't been paid yet. The 4 Ghanaian have tried
on many occasion to get the money due them. They've tried to petition
the government and relevant bodies but to no avail.
