US embassy cable - 05ACCRA566

UNCLAS ACCRA 000566 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: GH, KWMN, PGOV, PHUM 
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT'S OFFICE ON GHANA'S TRAFFICKING IN 
PERSONS LAW 
 
REF: A. ACCRA 504 
 
     B. ACCRA 519 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY 
 
1.  (U)  On March 17, PolChief and EconChief met with Kwadwo 
Mpiani, the President's Chief of Staff, to follow up on 
issues raised by the Ambassador during her March 9 meeting 
with President Kufuor (reftels).  PolChief reiterated the 
importance of passing a trafficking in persons (TIP) bill by 
the end of April to ensure that Ghana does not jeopardize its 
Tier one status. 
 
2.  (SBU)  Mpiani said it was clear that the GOG "abhors" 
trafficking in persons, noting the politicians had been 
shocked to learn of the dimension of the problem in Ghana. 
The GOG has decided to give the Ministry of Manpower the lead 
in TIP issues (because it is responsible for social welfare 
issues), which should resolve the longstanding bureaucratic 
tussle between the Ministries of Manpower and Women and 
Children over leadership on this issue. 
 
3.  (SBU)  Nonetheless, Mpiani asserted that the TIP bill 
would not pass by the end of April because this session of 
parliament will be in recess from March 29 to May 10.  He 
reassured us the bill would go before Cabinet in its next 
meeting, expected in early April (Cabinet has not met for 
several weeks.) He expected Cabinet would approve the bill 
without difficulty.  The GOG would then have to wait until 
parliament reconvenes in early May before introducing the 
bill.  (His staff had researched the option of gazetting the 
bill during parliament's recess but this was not legally 
possible.)  Once introduced on the floor, the bill will be 
gazetted for two weeks for public commentary.  After 
gazetting, the legislation will be referred to a committee 
for action.  Mpiani said he would explore if parliamentary 
committees could review the draft bill during the recess.  He 
was confident that the TIP law would be passed by mid-June. 
 
4.  (SBU)  Comment:  Mpiani and his staff seemed sympathetic 
to the anti-TIP message and had a solid understanding of our 
TIP concerns and Tier system.  They appear to have done some 
homework on parliamentary procedure since the Ambassador's 
March 9 meeting with the President.  PolChief left them a 
backgrounder on our TIP legislation to add to their 
knowledge.  However, Mpiani's news about the likely timing 
for passage of a TIP law was discouraging.  On March 9, he 
and the President had said a TIP law could be passed by the 
end of April, at the earliest.  We will watch closely to see 
what happens with the TIP bill in the next Cabinet meeting. 
 
YATES 
 
 
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