NO SLAVE TRADE HERE (OCTOBER 24)

THAT cocoa is the nation’s biggest foreign exchange earner has never been in doubt. That is why anything that poses a threat to the industry cannot be swept under the carpet but must be given priority attention.
A few months ago — in April, to be precise — we were all taken aback when World Vision Australia produced a video documentary which claimed, among other things, that Ghanaian children were deprived of education and made to work on cocoa farms in the same way slaves were made to work during the era of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
As was to be expected, the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment did not take matters lying down. A team was quickly commissioned to undertake a survey of the country’s cocoa-producing areas to establish the veracity or otherwise of the said report.
And, after many months of painstaking effort, which covered 60 per cent of the country’s cocoa-producing areas, the ministry yesterday laid bare the facts before the public. They are, in the main, the following:
One: That no child engaged in the production of cocoa in the country is working under conditions of slavery.
Two: That 92 per cent of children in cocoa-growing areas in Ghana are enrolled in schools and attend school regularly.
Three: That 99 per cent of children working on cocoa farms live with their parents or close relatives and that work is allotted to children according to their age.
The DAILY GRAPHIC commends the ministry for its hands-on approach to dealing with the matter and we hope this will put to rest the fabrications and lies being peddled about our cocoa industry.
As a country, we have always been at the forefront of the struggle against child labour, for which reason such misinformation would have dealt a big blow to our image and integrity in the eyes of the international community.
Furthermore, the Deputy Sector Minister, Mrs Frema Osei-Opare, personally enjoys international recognition for her role in addressing child labour in the cocoa industry and she would have been greatly embarrassed if the claims had not been investigated.
It is refreshing that we can now walk in international corridors with our chest out and continue to generate a passionate discourse on the rights of children while our cocoa industry flourishes.
Despite the wave of excitement the outcome of the survey brings, we are delighted that the ministry is not resting on its laurels but has put in place district and community child protection committees in 13 districts and 110 communities to plan ways of eliminating the worst forms of child labour, taking into account the practices of the localities.
Nonetheless, the DAILY GRAPHIC expresses its displeasure at the revelation that about 54 per cent of lower primary schoolchildren in cocoa-growing areas cannot read nor write.
This is really alarming and we urge the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports to rise up to the challenge and institute measures that will change the situation for the better.
Education is the cornerstone of our development and nothing must stand in our way in our quest to achieve that goal.