Human trafficking has become the railroad to modern day slavery where evil agents exploit the hopes and anguish of the poor.
For three teenagers and a 50-year-old mother of six and their families, poverty has taken hold of their homes for far too long and must be defeated even at the expense of an education and their lives.
When they were informed they would be traveling to Saudi Arabia, it only meant their dreams of ending the need cycle was about to be realized.
The four have been brought to Accra After being given away by their parents to be prepared to work outside the country.
Some opportunists have been taking undue advantage of the ignorance of some parents in poor communities across Ghana. They talk them into believing that there is a brighter future for their children outside Ghana and deceive them into willingly giving their children away to be trafficked out of the country.
One of the teenagers, a form two Junior High School pupil has been ordered by her father to abandon school for a journey to Saudi Arabia. She has been put with two other females who are related to the agent who happens to be her father’s friend in the trip.
Mbolinye Yamba, a 50 year old, has left her six children in the care of her family to embark on the trip to Saudi Arabia. Her dream of making it out of poverty is finally coming true.
Soon the four had to say goodbye to their serene village, Bonakye and Kwamekrom in the Nkwanta district of the Volta region in Ghana.
The trip to Accra
Two of the ladies were taken by their sponsor on motorbikes from Bonakye to join the third person at Kwamekrom where they were to board a vehicle for the long trip to Accra.
They arrived in Accra around 4am. Being new to the capital, they didn’t know how they got to their host at Gaskia, a suburb of Kaneshie Zongo.
Gaskia is a calm and organized Zongo community is a five minute walk from Kaneshie Zongo junction.
Arrival in Accra
The victims were led to Accra by an agent called Ibrahim Yamba. On arrival, Ibrahim and their caretaker, Hajia Kubra broke the news that the trip was not going to be immediate as they had imagined. Rather they would have to wait till after Ramadan when their documents would be processed.
They were later introduced to another teenage girl. Information gathered had been with Hajia, and was being groomed for five months before the arrival of the three. They were informed that they were going to share same accommodation with her.
Accommodation in a container
They were taken to their temporal accommodation; a container located two streets away from Hajia’s home. The container, I discovered was previously used as a tailoring shop by the by Hajia’s daughter.
The small red container is the size of the lift at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
The container is kept locked at all times, whether the victims are in or out. It has a very small window half of which had been covered with a wood and piece of cloth, trapping heat inside.
They slept inside the container with window blocked to prevent mosquitoes and stench from a gutter nearby.
In spite of all these measures, the mosquitoes still found their way in, leaving them with no option than to sleep under a treated net.
Four people sleeping under a mosquito net in an almost windowless container must quite unbearable and traumatizing. This was what the victims had to endure for weeks.
I spent just 10 minutes inside the container with the victims and the experience was indeed inhuman. The temperature was just intolerable.
Change of names and ages
The victims were made to understand that some details about their lives were going to be changed; hence, they had to prepare their minds towards their new reality.
They were also told that they had to convert to Islam before the journey to Saudi Arabia. This required that they had their names changed to Islamic ones
Secondly, they would have their ages changed to meet the requirement; hence, the ages of the three teenage girls were increased while that of the elderly woman, decreased.
Legal documentation
Preparation of traveling documents begin with the provision of travelling documents and as the names and ages of the victims had been changed, they required new birth certificate bearing their new personal details to enable them acquire passport. This was done successfully for the victims, according to Hajia.
I visited the Birth and Death Registry, the institution which issues the first legal document of every individual birth, to ask why it was so easy to acquire new birth certificates with forged personal details.
In an interview, Emmanuel Nortey Botchwey, Head of the Information Technology department of the Registry disclosed that currently, the laws of Ghana allow for adult birth registrations therefore they are unable to prevent adult registrants.
According to him, the law requires adult registrants to report at the registry with baptismal cards or post-natal book (weighing card) but in many instances, registrants report there with claims that they have lost them.
Mr. Botchwey added that the registry is left with no option than to rely on declarations from relatives. He said that explains why people use false witnesses.
“When someone comes before you to tell you that this is my mother or the mother says this is my daughter, you can’t challenge them,” Mr. Botchwey said. He also stated that when discovered, people who use forged personal details to obtain birth certificate are prosecuted and the certificate considered void.
From information gathered, it was clear that the system limits the Birth and Death Registry from playing any part in the campaign against human trafficking in Ghana.
The passport office on the other hand had little to do about the situation as they are required by law to issue passport to individuals who make their required documents available.
Hence, once the person is successful with the acquisition of a genuine birth certificate with false personal details, the possibility of acquiring a passport is almost certain.
Profile of Victims
1st victim: Original name withheld, is 16 years old, a ‘form 2’ pupil (name of school withheld). She speaks English, Twi and Konkomba. Her name has been changed to Samira and age increased to 22 years.
She was told by her father that a friend of his had informed him that some ‘White People’ were in need of children to work with in Saudi Arabia.
She was not given details about the trip. When it was time for her to leave the village her father’s friend who had been identified as Ibrahim Yamba visited her family and informed her, in the presence of her parents, that she was to make a trip to Saudi Arabia where he Ibrahim’s daughter supposedly lives and works.
According to Samira, Ibrahim sometime earlier informed her family that his daughter had traveled outside the country and was doing well and promised to inform Samira’s father when there was another opportunity.
Samira was made to abandon her schooling to embark on the trip to Accra, to prepare for travel to a country she knew nothing about.
2nd victim: original name withheld, 18 years of age, she speaks only Konkomba, her native language. Her Christian name has been changed to Aminatu and given a new age of 20years.
3rd victim: Original name withheld, 14 years old, Christian name changed to Aisha and her age changed to 20 years. She speaks only Konkomba.
She is related to the agent, Ibrahim. Through an interpreter, she said the only thing her father told her was that she should learn how city children behave and and emulate them when she travels.
According to her, Ibrahim told her that the people his daughter works with are searching for more children.
4th victim: Mborinye Yamba is 50 years old. She speaks only Konkomba. Her age has been slashed to 33 years and her new name is Salamatu. She is also related to Ibrahim, the agent and said she and her parents were told the same story.
She is a mother of six but had lost three of children. She has left all six children behind to embark on the trip in search of a better future for them. As old as she is, she is embarking on the trip because her father told her to. Her father wanted her to escape the hardship in the village.
“When we arrived in Accra, we were asked to state our names, after that, I was told that I’m now called Salamatu, and that was what they did to each one of us.” She said through an interpreter.
After the exercise, the three were asked to rehearse their new personal details to be conversant with them to avoid fumbling when being questioned either at the Passport Office or at the Embassy. These are the details they were expected to give out in conversations with neighbors.
Role to play in Saudi Arabia
The four, were promised well paid jobs in Saudi Arabia. Since they had little or no formal education, their expectations were quite modest; they just wanted decent jobs which did not require certificates.
They were not told the exact job that each one of them will do on arrival, but they were assured of three types: to assist the aged to do basic things like visiting the washroom, to work as house helps or as store keepers in Saudi Arabia.
Salamatu, who only speaks her native language – Konkomba told said through an interpreter that she was told that when she gets to Saudi Arabia, she would perform the role of a nanny due to her age.
Daily routine
Among the four, only Samira-the school dropout speaks other languages apart from her native Konkomba. This becomes a challenge for the others because effective communication now requires a translator.
Their daily routine is to spend the entire day with Hajia for training for the task ahead in Saudi Arabia. The teenagers said they have been told they would be working as maidservants in Saudi Arabia and must be properly trained for the task. Hajia, thus, occasionally leaves her room disorganized and asks them to clean it up and put all the items back in place. It was a necessary training to survive the task ahead.
The victims were well fed. Hajia gave them three meals daily but sometimes four meals in a day for free. They used a public toilet and shower, which were all paid for by Hajia.
Experience at Gaskia
After spending more than three weeks in Gaskia while awaiting the processing of documents, residents within the community began to recognize their presence and ask questions.
Neighbors after learning about the ladies soon began admonishing them that they would be sold into prostitution if they eventually made it to Saudi Arabia.
Victims can’t escape
Despite the warning in the Zongo community that they were going to be used for prostitution, they continued living under the care of Hajia.
When asked why they had not made the attempt to escape, they said they did know their way around the Accra. Even if they could, they had no money to do.
In separate interviews, the four began expressing worry about the trip, but were not eager to abandon their quest to travel either.
The victims at this point expressed the wish to give it all up and go back to the village if they could get the means to or stay in Accra if they could find accommodation and job.
Strangely, despite their wish, they all continued to prepare for the trip. Their reason being that, they could not abandon the trip unless their fathers permitted them to do so.
“Left with me alone, I wish I don’t embark on the trip but stay in Accra if only my father will permit me to do so,” Samira lamented.
Marriage proposal
After gathering enough information about the four victims, it was now time to visit Hajia to confirm if she knew three teenage girls and the elderly woman and what reason was for hosting them.
At this point, I realized that it would be safer and easier to visit with someone who speaks her native Hausa.
I employed the services of a man who speaks Hausa under the pretext of asking for the hand of one of the victims in marriage.
The visit was successful, as Hajia Kubra admitted knowing the victims and acknowledged being their caretaker. She also admitted that the victims were about to travel to Saudi Arabia, which makes it impossible for the marriage proposal to be accepted.
She told the gentleman that the victims’ travel documents were ready and the girl would be traveling with her other sisters so even if she tried informing the parents of the victim about his proposal she could promise that it won’t be successful.
“As I told you earlier, I have finished preparing their travelling documents so she will be travelling in about two weeks, your marriage proposal will not work,” she said.
Police alert and arrest
At this stage, all was set for the law enforcement agencies to intervene.
The Anti-Trafficking Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service was contacted and they offered a rapid response.
The CID with support from the United States Embassy, a team led by Chief Superintendent Quaye, visited Gaskia with me to arrest Hajia Kubra and rescue the victims.
At the time of the arrest, which took place about 8pm, the victims were at home with Hajia Kubra.
The police decided to make a quiet arrest without applying force, but Hajia Kubra was hesitant in following the police out of the compound. It took about an hour to get her to willingly follow them.
In the end, one suspect, Hajia Kubra, and five victims, instead of the four mentioned earlier were rescued.
After searching her home, 18 passports, five police clearance forms, one birth certificate, one driver’s license and some yellow cards were retrieved.
Head of Anti- trafficking Unit (CID)
Head of the Anti- trafficking unit of the CID
Chief Superintendent Patient Quaye, Head of the Anti- trafficking unit of the CID confirmed that, 18 passports, five police clearance forms, one birth certificate, one driver’s license, photographs and some other documents were recovered.
She however disclosed that, checks on the Police clearance forms indicated that the signatures on the forms were forged signatures of a former Deputy Director General of CID Ghana, R.V. Dedjoe.
Checks also revealed that the seal on the photograph fixed on the Police clearance forms are replaced and details retyped.
“Even when you look at the quality of the clearance form, you will see that it is not coming from the CID head quarters so it means somebody is somewhere doing the police clearance” she added.
Chief Supt has cautioned the public on personal details used to acquire passport as those details would be maintained by law forever.
“The Anti-human trafficking unit says that we are ready and we will work hard to bring success and also to put smiles on the faces of these poor victims” she said.
Ambassador’s interview
In an interview with Ambassador Robert P Jackson, he said that the embassy is going to support the police with providing shelter for the victims until the trial can be held after which the victims will be reintegrated with their families or with others who will give them a loving home.
He disclosed the victims would be given to the Child Protection Services to be placed in an appropriate environment if their families refuse to accept them back
“The trafficking situation here has not gotten the attention that I think it deserves, we believe that there are still many surveys that almost 100,000 people are victims of trafficking today.
“ we hope that by publicizing this, people will look around and see what is happening in their communities or talk about families whose children have disappeared, where are they?, I think this is the first step in prevention.
“We also need to make sure that there is investigation and prosecution to make certain that as we combat this problem, it is diminished,” he said.
For child protection combat, the United States has invested five million dollars to assist in training, investigation, rehabilitation of shelters and also assist in transport.
“We are giving the Prosecutors, the Police and the Ministry of Gender, some of the tools they need to succeed in this effort. We are also through other US government programs working to reduce the trafficking of women into prostitution in other countries.
“We will be checking regularly with the Attorney General’s office to understand the status of the case, we have asked the Attorney General’s office as part of the child protection combat to track the investigations and prosecution its conducting so that we have a good statistical view of what is happening, we believe that by publicizing the fact that people are being prosecuted and convicted, it will reduce the temptation for other people to commit these crimes” Ambassador Jackson said.
Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection
Victoria Natsu is the Head of Human Trafficking Secretariat at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.
She is knowledgeable about what victims go through when they are taken out of the country due to many rescue exercises undertaken by the Ministry. In an interview she said “the jobs people are promised before their trips are completely different from what they are made to do when they arrive there.”
According to her, the passports of victims are taken away from them on arrival and they are exploited for one, two or years.
She added that some victims are abused in many ways including sexual in the foreign countries they find themselves in.
Hope from the Ministry
Mrs. Natsu disclosed that the Ministry is developing guidelines to protect children. The guidelines include regulating movement of unaccompanied minors when they are travelling internally or out of the country.
Secondly, the Ministry is enrolling poor communities prone to sending their children out on the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme to help compile the list of extremely poor households who sell their children into slavery.
Parents put on LEAP will be given some money every two months to assist with the financial needs of their families. In return, they will sign a bond not to send their children out into slavery.
This, according to the Ministry, should discourage parents from forcing their children to be trafficked into Modern Day Slavery.
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