US embassy cable - 05ACCRA364

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ACCRA 000364 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR G/IWI AND AF/W 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB, GH, KWMN, PHUM, PREL, SOCI, Trafficking 
SUBJECT: MEETING WITH GHANA'S NEW MINISTER OF WOMEN AND 
CHILDREN AFFAIRS:  TRAFFICKING FOCUS 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY 
 
1.  (U)  Summary:  On February 16, A/DCM and PolChief paid a 
courtesy call on Alima Mahama, Ghana's new Minister of Women 
and Children Affairs, to inform her about USG interest in 
passage of a trafficking in persons law.  She said the 
ministry had recently submitted its comments on the draft TIP 
bill to the Attorney General.  She discussed her priorities 
as minister and addressed issues of child labor and the 
pending domestic violence bill.  End summary. 
 
Trafficking in Persons 
---------------------- 
 
2.  (SBU)  PolChief noted the USG's strong interest in seeing 
Ghana pass a trafficking in persons (TIP) law before April, 
2005.  Ghana's Tier 1 status could be affected by failure to 
pass such a law, he said.  Minister Mahama said "we must keep 
Tier 1" and pointed out that her ministry had recently 
submitted its comments on the TIP bill to the Attorney 
General.  Moving the bill to parliament depended on getting 
the AG to focus on the bill as a priority, which she would 
encourage him to do.  Mahama did not expect the law to be 
controversial, either with the AG or in parliament, but 
opined it would be difficult to get a bill passed before this 
session of parliament ends in late March. 
 
Ministry's Priorities 
--------------------- 
 
3.  (U)  Minister Mahama said she had developed a Gender and 
Children's Policy and would be working with other ministries 
to develop their capacity on gender issues.  Her priorities 
will track the priorities President Kufuor detailed in his 
recent State of the Nation address:  human resource 
development, private sector development, and good governance. 
 
 
Human Resource Development:  The ministry will promote two 
years of preschool for all children, encourage girls' 
secondary school education, and support health programs which 
target women and children (she cited cancer screening and 
insecticide-treated bed nets). 
 
Private Sector Development:  She will promote programs to 
support rural women with bank loans and by encouraging 
microcredit and microenterprises.  She wants to support 
businesswomen and plans to establish women and child centers 
in each of Ghana's ten regions. 
 
Good Governance:  Her ministry will work with other 
ministries for programs that benefit men and women.  She will 
pursue a Domestic Violence bill that is enforceable and 
acceptable within Ghana's cultural norms.  Her ministry will 
continue with ongoing sensitization and consultation efforts 
throughout the country to gain more buy-in for the bill. 
(Note:  this bill has been very controversial, generating a 
debate about how to best tackle the issue of marital rape. 
End note.) 
 
Child Labor 
----------- 
 
4.  (U)  PolChief asked about the ministry's approach to 
child labor issues, noting this is a USG priority.  She said 
the ministry is working with the ILO, International 
Organization for Migration (IOM), and the Department of 
Social Welfare to develop an anti-child labor strategy.  The 
ministry's Chief Director (its top bureaucrat) Emmanual 
Mensah Quaye noted that child labor has been an issue 
regarding Ghana's cocoa farms.  He was clear that Ghana does 
not condone child labor on cocoa farms but opined that most 
such child labor came from children helping their families 
and getting some training on weekends, in a non-exploitative 
manner. The minister concurred. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
5.  (SBU)  Mahama was engaging and helpful. When PolChief 
mentioned TIP issues, she got up, grabbed a notebook (despite 
being surrounded by four notetakers) and took careful notes. 
She stressed her interest in women and business.  She and the 
Chief Director were disappointing in their dismissive 
response on child labor in the cocoa industry and failure to 
mention child labor in other sectors.  Mahama said her 
experience at the Center for Women and Politics at Rutgers 
University while a Humphrey Fellow in 1999-2000 made her 
think about getting into politics.  She hopes to engage USG 
officials when she attends a meeting next week in New York of 
the UN Commission on the Status of Women, of which Ghana is a 
member.  After the meeting, Chief Director Quaye, who has not 
been helpful to us in the past, said he would help push the 
Attorney General (reportedly a close friend) to submit the 
TIP bill to parliament. 
 
Bio 
--- 
 
6.  (U)  Alima Mahama (58) is an ethnic Mamprusi and a Muslim 
and comes from the Northern region of Ghana.  Prior to 
becoming a minister, she was Deputy Minister for Trade, 
Industry and President's Special Initiatives (2003-2005) and 
Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development 
(2001-2003).  From 1987-2001, she worked as a Senior Planner, 
Gender and Development Coordinator at the Northern Regional 
Rural Integrated Program, and worked previously as Director 
of Maalizaali, an NGO focused on capacity building of local 
government institutions, gender analysis and planning, human 
rights, and training for women.  She has a B.A. in Law and 
Sociology from the University of Ghana, Legon, a law degree 
from Ghana Law School, and an M.A. in Development Studies 
from the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague.  In 1990-91, 
Mahama studied in Canada on a Government of Canada Pearson 
Fellowship Award, and in 1999-2000 she was a Hubert Humphrey 
Fellow at Rutgers University, where she studied Urban Policy 
Planning and Women's Studies.  She is not married. 
 
YATES