US embassy cable - 04ACCRA2189

C O N F I D E N T I A L ACCRA 002189 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/04/2014 
TAGS: KCRM, KWMN, SMIG, PHUM, GH, Trafficking 
SUBJECT: GHANA'S TIP LAW: COMMENTS FROM THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL 
 
REF: A. STATE 225140 
 
     B. ACCRA 2044 
     C. ACCRA 2146 
 
Classified By: PolOff Michelle Lee for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1. (C) PolChief met on November 3 with Ghana,s Attorney 
General and Minister for Justice, Papa Owuso-Ankomah, to 
raise concerns about progress on the draft bill of a 
trafficking-in-persons (TIP) law. Owuso-Ankomah was familiar 
with the pending legislation and its status, and said that if 
the ministries involved could not reach agreement on 
ownership of the bill by January, he would submit the bill 
directly to Parliament himself. However, he said that it was 
highly unlikely that the legislation would be passed by 
Parliament before April due to other, more immediate, demands 
that the newly-elected Parliament will have to address early 
in 2005. End summary. 
 
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PASSAGE OF TIP LAW BY APRIL UNLIKELY 
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2. (C) Owuso-Ankomah was well informed about the proposed TIP 
law, noting that Cabinet had initially decided to delegate 
development of this legislation to the Ministry of Women's 
and Children's Affairs (MOWAC).  After consultative 
workshops, the GoG realized that the TIP issue cuts across 
several ministries, including the Ministry of Interior, the 
Ministry of Manpower, Development, and Employment (MMDE), and 
MOWAC. For this reason, he said these ministries needed to 
reach consensus on the draft bill before it is submitted to 
Cabinet for approval.  Owuso-Ankomah acknowledged that the 
MOWAC and MMDE were not in agreement over responsibility for 
this issue, saying he did not want to get involved out of 
&courtesy8 and &respect8 for a democratic bureaucratic 
process.  However, he told PolChief emphatically that if the 
ministries do not reach consensus and move the bill to 
Cabinet by January 2005, he would take the matter out of 
their hands and submit the bill directly to Cabinet himself. 
 
3. (C) PolChief explained that if the bill is not passed by 
April, the USG would likely downgrade Ghana from Tier 1 to 
Tier 2.  Owuso-Ankomah said he saw no way the TIP law would 
be passed in this timeframe, given what he saw as the 
realities of Ghanaian politics in the next six months.  Even 
if the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) wins the election in 
December and even if he submits the bill to Cabinet directly 
himself in January, the Cabinet would be a lame duck body for 
several months. All of the newly-elected president,s Cabinet 
appointments will require parliamentary approval.  This 
approval of the Cabinet posts may not occur until the end of 
the first parliamentary session (January-March), he thought. 
 
4. (C) In addition to approving a Cabinet, the priorities of 
the new legislature will be receiving the new President's 
state of the nation speech, passing a budget, and forming 
parliamentary committees.  Owuso-Ankomah did not expect 
Parliament to take up legislation until its second session 
(April-July).  He said he would ensure that the TIP 
legislation would be sent to Parliament (after getting 
Cabinet approval) &as one of our priorities for next 
session8 but because of &timing and priorities8 it would 
not likely be taken up until the April-July period.  PolChief 
noted that the Department would like raise the TIP issue with 
Ambassador Poku in Washington. 
 
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COMMENT 
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5. (C) Owuso-Ankomah was uncharacteristically open and 
friendly, making time for PolChief in the midst of his own 
parliamentary campaign and blocking all outside calls during 
our meeting.  Despite the Minister's pessimism on the TIP law 
passing before April, we will continue to raise the TIP 
legislation issue with the GOG and in Parliament, especially 
with the new government after the election.  His resolve to 
break the deadlock between the line ministries if necessary 
was welcome news and should help position this legislation - 
which does not appear to be controversial within Ghana - for 
passage within the next year. End comment. 
YATES