CONDUCT CLEAN RESEARCH INTO CHILD LABOUT (Back Page)

Story: Nana Konadu Agyeman, Bunso

A CHIEF Director of the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment (MMYE), Mr Emmanuel A. Akuffo, has 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.
According to him, any research findings that would not reflect a true picture of the situation in Ghana would be discredited by the international independent verification body which is also in the country to conduct similar research.
This, he said, could dent the image of the country and the sale of its cocoa on the international market.
The verification body is made up of officials of international cocoa product manufacturers, consumer groups, local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the COCOBOD.
In an address read on his behalf at a workshop on the issue at Bunso in the Eastern Region, Mr Akuffo said “as you undertake this national assignment, which will determine the country’s socio-economic destiny, you must perform your research work with seriousness, dedication, precision and speed, as well as show a keen eye for details and quality”.
The 80 participants, who will conduct a survey to determine the extent of child labour in 60 per cent of the country’s cocoa-growing areas, were drawn from 11 cocoa-growing districts, COCOBOD, Ghana Statistical Service, UNICEF, Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG), University of Ghana and the Ghana Medical School.
The workshop was organised by the MMYE in conjunction with World Cocoa Foundation, COCOBOD, Ministry of Finance and the District Assemblies.
As part of the training to give the participants a practical exposure, they would visit six cocoa-growing communities in and around Bunso to gather data on the extent of trafficking and exploitation of children on cocoa farms in the area.
According to the chief director, for the country to succeed in redeeming its image with regard to the non-use of child labour on cocoa farms, the participants should work hard to ensure that the country would be able to meet the deadline of July 1, 2008, when it had to present its report outlining the extent of child labour in the cocoa industry to the Harkin-Engel Protocol, which was set up to deal with child labour in cocoa production.
Mr Akuffo said as part of efforts to avert such possible damage to the country’s cocoa industry on the international scene, a National Programme for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Cocoa (NPECLC) was set up in August, 2006, under the auspices of the MMYE.
Mr Akuffo, who said the NPECLC was to ascertain the veracity of the assertion by the international media that some children were involved in child labour in cocoa production, said the NPECLC had successfully undertaken a pilot survey in most cocoa-growing areas, and had also organised sensitisation programmes in the various cocoa-growing districts to educate cocoa farmers on the harmful effects of child labour in cocoa production.
For her part, the National Programme Manager of the NPECLC, Mrs Rita Owusu Amankwah, said the American Congress had earmarked about $4.3 million for the Tulan University to conduct research into the extent of child labour in the country’s cocoa industry.
Mrs Amankwah, who was a facilitator at the workshop, therefore, advised the participants to make every effort to come up with genuine findings to help remedy the problem and redeem the image of the country on the international scene.