A WICKED DISTORTION

IT is rather unfortunate that a circular making the rounds in the United States alleges that “Children are tied to trees and subjected to inhuman treatment on cocoa farms” in Ghana.
For that reason, two US Senators, Messrs Thomas Harkin and Eliot Engel, are to visit the country to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the allegations.
This development, in the opinion of the DAILY GRAPHIC, portends ill for the country and its cocoa industry, on which depends the sustenance of the economy.
Apart from the allegation denting the reputation of the country, the sale of its cocoa on the international market is also bound to be affected.
The situation calls for urgent and immediate steps to be taken to correct the negative impression created by outsiders that, to a large extent, the cocoa industry in the country is fuelled by child labour.
The DAILY GRAPHIC feels that this impression is far from the truth, and that is why we agree with the Communications Officer of the National Programme for the Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour in Cocoa (NPCLC), Ms Patience Dapaah, when she categorically denied the existence of child slavery in the cocoa-growing areas of the country.
We also agree with the Chief Director of the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Mr Emmanuel A. Akuffo, when he called on researchers on the issue of child labour in the country’s cocoa industry to let their research findings reflect the true situation on the ground.
The DAILY GRAPHIC strongly believes that any such research, whether by Ghanaians or foreigners, must take the social, cultural and historical milieu into consideration because what outsiders consider as “child labour” is different from what Ghanaians perceive as a child preparing himself or herself for the future.
In the social and cultural context, cocoa farms are family property passed on from father to son, mother to daughter or uncle to nephew. In that wise, family labour is one of the means by which the cocoa farms are maintained, since the family income is not big enough to hire labourers.
We find it difficult to comprehend the allegation that “children are tied to trees”, since the greater number of children who work on cocoa farms live with their parents.
It is common knowledge in Ghana, especially for adults who grew up in cocoa-growing areas, that during weeding and harvesting time, all hands are needed on deck to make the work lighter and to bring in the money that will sustain the family and cater for the very needs of the children — school fees, clothes, health care, etc.
In any case, the children carry out only part-time work on the cocoa farms, since most go to farm only once a week, during holidays and after school hours. This, in no way, can be classified under “the worst forms of child labour” which, under the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, comprises, among other issues: “Work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children”.
While the DAILY GRAPHIC is wholeheartedly against the exploitation of children, especially those of school age, it believes that using foreign standards to measure what is purely a practical way of making children appreciate the value of the family heirloom, as it were, is not fair.
We shall be the first to condemn any attempts by cocoa farmers to jeopardise the future of Ghanaian children, but when so much noise is made about a practice which, in our social set up, is meant to prepare children for the future, then we must fight it in no uncertain terms.
Our researchers must tell our story from our own perspective, using our own standards and social context, so that the outside world does not use what is so harmless against us.