Ghana risks losing all non-humanitarian assistance from the US government including the 500 million dollars power agreement between the USA and Ghana if it fails to ensure prosecution of persons involved in human trafficking.
This was revealed by the US Ambassador to Ghana, Robert Potter Jackson in an exclusive interview with 3NEWS’s Mercy Catherine Adjabeng.
“There are very serious potential implications and that’s why I’m happy to put out this information to raise awareness.
“If Ghana does not improve its efforts at curbing human trafficking, by US Law, the country will be downgraded to tier 3 of the ranking system. In practical terms by implication, all non-humanitarian assistance could be suspended.
“These include the energy compact which has a monetary value of over five hundred million dollars; some defense cooperation which bothers on boosting Ghana’s ability to do peacekeeping and combat terrorism.”
Ambassador Jackson stressed that he doesn’t want to hold a discussion on cutting the humanitarian assistance.
He was however quick to indicate, “the US government is not worried about children who work with their families but to see the estimated hundred thousand children who are being abused, kept out of school and malnourished, stopped. The concern is also value for money because the US government is providing approximately 19 million dollars to combat trafficking and child-labour in Ghana in a Compact two years ago, therefore, we expect to see perpetrators punished to deter others from doing this.”
Ghana has been slammed by the US government for its poor performance in handling issues of human trafficking despite considerable evidence against offenders who should be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.
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