The Astrient Foundation - Forum Topics

We are ready to nip human trafficking in the bud - Anti Human Trafficking of the Ghana Police Service.

4 Aug 2010 12:49:56 GMT

284 children suspected to be victims of human trafficking have been transferred to the police headquarters in Accra from Tema.

The anti-human trafficking unit of the Criminal Investigations Department together with the Tema Regional Police intercepted them onboard three buses at Prampram.

According to the police, the victims who are aged between five and fifteen were being transported to Yeji to engage in menial jobs.

“The anti-human trafficking unit has established that there is the likelihood that most of the children were going to be used for menial jobs and other fishing activities in and around Yeji, DSP Kwesi Ofori, Director of Police Public Relations told News men.

Some of the children who spoke to news men said they were on vacation and were traveling to Yeji to visit their parents.

They claim to be hungry after being starved since morning.

He said the children have been taken to the Police training school to make use of hostel facilities after which a decision will be taken.

Meanwhile thirteen men accused of allegedly trafficking children were Tuesday arraigned before the Accra Circuit Court 5 presided over by Judge Georgina Mensah–Datsa.

They have been charged with conspiracy to commit crime and human trafficking.

The accused are Samuel Yenyan Korye, Eric Siaw, Super Dzisenu, Ku George Moses, Felix Nartey, Robert Nartey, John Nartey, Akakpo Dameh, Emmanuel Nartey, George Ayiku Nartey, Alex Koffie, Tei Dawa and Enock Tetteh Bordozor.

The first, second and fifth accused persons who are drivers have also been charged additionally with carrying persons in a vehicle in excess of the prescribed number.

Their pleas were not taken but were ordered to be kept in police custody until August 10, 2010.

Presenting the facts to the court, ASP Annor said on August 1, 2010, three commercial buses with registration numbers GT 6121-10, GR 3096 C and WR 2175 C en-route to Yeji in the Brong Ahafo Region were intercepted by the police at the outskirts of Prampram.

He said on the spot investigation revealed that, 338 children between the ages of 4 and19 years recruited from Ada, Ningo, Sege, Kpongnuour and its surrounding villages were being transported by the accused persons to Yeji to work.

The prosecutor also informed the court that investigations were continuing as a team of investigators and personnel from the Anti-Human Trafficking unit of the police have left for Yeji to ascertain if the parents of the victims are based there.

That, he said, was when the police were told when the children were intercepted.

He said the children are being housed at the Tesano Police Station and have since been fed and catered for by an NGO.

We are ready to nip human trafficking in the bud - Anti Human Trafficking of the Ghana Police Service.

4 Aug 2010 12:38:36 GMT

Thirteen men accused of allegedly trafficking children were Tuesday arraigned before the Accra Circuit Court 5 presided over by Judge Georgina Mensah–Datsa.

They have been charged with conspiracy to commit crime and human trafficking.

The accused are Samuel Yenyan Korye, Eric Siaw, Super Dzisenu, Ku George Moses, Felix Nartey, Robert Nartey, John Nartey, Akakpo Dameh, Emmanuel Nartey, George Ayiku Nartey, Alex Koffie, Tei Dawa and Enock Tetteh Bordozor.

The first, second and fifth accused persons who are drivers have also been charged additionally with carrying persons in a vehicle in excess of the prescribed number.

Their pleas were not taken but were ordered to be kept in police custody until August 10, 2010.

Presenting the facts to the court, ASP Annor said on August 1, 2010, three commercial buses with registration numbers GT 6121-10, GR 3096 C and WR 2175 C en-route to Yeji in the Brong Ahafo Region were intercepted by the police at the outskirts of Prampram.

He said on the spot investigation revealed that, 338 children between the ages of 4 and19 years recruited from Ada, Ningo, Sege, Kpongnuour and its surrounding villages were being transported by the accused persons to Yeji to work.

The prosecutor also informed the court that investigations were continuing as a team of investigators and personnel from the Anti-Human Trafficking unit of the police have left for Yeji to ascertain if the parents of the victims are based there.

That, he said, was when the police were told when the children were intercepted.

He said the children are being housed at the Tesano Police Station and have since been fed and catered for by an NGO.

Are military take-overs really history in Ghana?

15 Sep 2009 16:50:09 GMT

Got another taxi story here. :)

I took a taxi this afternoon which had the radio on a local FM station broadcasting the news. In reaction to the answers being given by a local government leader who was being interviewed, the driver of the taxi angrily switched off the radio and started talking about how dishonest our politicians - from any party are and how he earns for a coup d'etat in Ghana.

I convinced him to change his mind with the reason that we can change bad leaders with democracy after some time, no matter how long. With military leaders we cannot. But this makes me wonder if the society will not support a coup in Ghana now which can give a military adventurer some legitimacy to misbehave, thus repeating some not very good parts of our history. What do you think?

Simple Technology To The Rescue

17 May 2009 23:02:31 GMT

A few days back, I took a taxi from the ambassadorial enclave at Ridge to Abbosey Okai, both in Accra, Ghana. To help me cope with the stress as a result of a traffic jam, I launched Windows Media Player on my iPAQ and started Ryan Shupe's Dream Big.

The taxi driver was so glad to hear the song. He tried singing along with great difficulty since he did not know the lyrics. 'This is my favorite song', he said. I taught him how to visit the google website to run a search for the lyrics he needed badly and any other information he was interested in. Somehow, I knew it was going to take him a long time to accomplish the task.

I therefore decided to whet his appetite for technology as a tool for solving our everyday problems. I launched Internet Explorer on my iPAQ, connected to the internet via the GPRS service of my mobile network provider, visited google, run the search, found the lyrics and sent it to the taxi driver's cell phone via SMS.

He was amazed and overjoyed. Simple technology already present in his environment had come to his rescue and made his day. Isn't that what technology should be doing for everyday people?

Chinese sex mafia's finally jailed

23 Jun 2009 14:53:28 GMT

For trafficking their nationals for prostitution, three Chinese nationals were on Monday June 22, sentenced to a total of 41 years imprisonment in hard labor by an Accra Circuit Court.

The court found the ringleader, James Xu Jin, his wife Chou Xiou Ying, and Sam Shan Zifan, Jame’s younger brother, guilty of recruiting, transporting and harboring the victims for prostitution.

James was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment, while Chou and Sam were sentenced to 12 years imprisonment each.

James was sentenced to two years imprisonment on the charge of conspiracy and 15 years on the charge of human trafficking, while his wife was sentenced to two years imprisonment and 10 years imprisonment on the charges of conspiracy and human trafficking, respectively.

Sam was jailed two years for conspiracy and 10 years for abetment. Their sentences are to run consecutively.

Delivering its judgment in Accra on Monday, the trail judge, Mrs. Elizabeth Ankomah, held that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused persons acted together to recruit, transport and harbor the girls for prostitution and slammed their defense that they were running a restaurant.

It held that the girls, who were eight in number, were “reduced to the state of slavery” by James and Chou who had deceived the girls into believing that they (girls) were to assist in running a restaurant business in Accra, only for their passports to be seized and for them to be forced into prostitution on arrival.

The court ordered the deportation of the convicts after serving their terms.

It also revoked James’s resident permit and further ordered that his assets should be confiscated to the state.

It also ordered that the $14.560 which was found in James’s house on February 14, 2009, the day of the arrest, must be paid into the human trafficking fund and part must be used to pay the amounts James owed the victims.

According to the court, the victims were recruited from Harbin, a city in China, under the guise that they were to assist Jin and Chou to run a restaurant in Accra for a monthly salary of $500 but on arrival in Ghana they were forced into prostitution.

It is said James exploited the poor victims whom he claimed owed him for their airfare and other transport arrangements, seized their passports and also ordered them to pay a penalty of $50 a day anytime they refused to offer sex.

The court further held that James misled officials of the Ghana investment Promotion Council (GIPC) and the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and managed to get documentation to stay in the country to run his prostitution business and not a restaurant, as he had made those institutions to believe.

According to the court, from the totality of the evidence, a tour of the brothel called Peach Blossom Palace and from the evidence of neighbors, it was clearly evident that James and Chou did not run a restaurant, as they had indicated to the court.

It further stated that the names of two restaurants which were registered by James existed on paper only to deceive the GIPC and the GIS, assign that it also found that James and Chou saddled the victims with debts to further exploit them.

The Court said it was also obvious that the debt owed by the victims forced them into a state of vulnerability, adding that it was also evident that the victims were put under bondage by the convicts.

It also held that there was overwhelming evidence to the effect that Sam helped Jamnes and Chou and acted as the interpreter for the victims and their clients who were mostly Indians, Chinese and Lebanese.

The court found that there was abundant evidence to prove that Sam sometimes drove the victims to meet their clients, opened gates for men to enter the palace, among others, and added that he “aided, facilitated, carried, promoted the act of trafficking and was paid $600 a month”.

An investigative journalist, Mr. Anas Aremeyaw Anas, whose seven-month investigations led to the arrest of the accused persons on February 14, 2009, also gave evidence on the activities of the accused persons and produced video and audio tapes on their activities.

Counsel for the convicts, Mr. B.O.K. Johnson, said he was yet to receive instructions from his clients on whether or not to appeal against the conviction.

Source: Daily Graphic

FEMALE TEACHERS SLEEPING WITH THEIR STUDENTS

4 Jun 2009 15:10:37 GMT

According to reports from Folrida- Miami, the number of female teachers sleeping with their students is rising.In a recent reported case the alledged perp was a 32 year old instructor Maria Guzman Hernadez of Our Lady of Charity school in Hialeah;her victim was just 15.There are alot of other teachers who have confessed about their involment, the unlucky ones have been jailed.
the question i want to ask is:
Are there not enough laws in Florida -Miami to deter people from abusing these innocent ones? Are parents also looking on unconcerned whilst some adult female teachers abuse their children?
Are there systems to identify the needs(whatever it is) of these female teachers before it gets out of hand? Any Ideas? :Lets Talk

'The Kristo Asafo Man'

22 Apr 2009 22:49:34 GMT

Apostle Safo Kantanka has made a couple of interesting machines here in Ghana. They include the 'Kantanka Obrempong', a 26 feet limousine. He also cultivates acres of land each year.

Let me know what you think of the work this man is doing. Is he to be encouraged and supported in his mechanical and electrical/electronic research or we are better off allowing the Germans, Americans, Japanese and co worry about that so that he can focus on farming?

World Earth Day

22 Apr 2009 22:36:29 GMT

Hello,

As we mark World Earth Day today, I ask for some ideas on some simple everyday things i could do or not do to help make the earth better.

All ideas are welcome.

Can't we feed ourselves?

22 Apr 2009 22:52:30 GMT

Over 60% of the labor force in Ghana is engaged in occupations in the agricultural sector, yet the nation imports incredible quantities of food daily. Why are we failing to feed ourselves?

Just checking - what is Valentine's Day about?

14 Feb 2009 14:56:52 GMT

Today is observed in various countries all over the world as St. Valentine's day to celebrate love, I think. Compared to other occasions such as Christmas, a lot of the people who celebrate it know it is the observance of the birth of Jesus Christ. I have been wondering how many people who celebrate Valentine's day know what it is about. And what is the red colour on valentine's day all about ?

The beaches would be packed till tomorrow morning when the media would report about the huge numbers of used condoms swept and all that. Is that what it is about? Happy Valentine's Day to you, ...if you know what it means.