US embassy cable - 05ACCRA1148

UNCLAS  ACCRA 001148 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR, EAID, ECON, EIND, ELAB, ETRD, GH, PGOV, PREL 
SUBJECT: U.S. CHOCOLATE MANUFACTURERS IN GHANA TO WORK ON 
CHILD LABOR/COCOA ISSUE 
 
REF: ACCRA 00754 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: The U.S. chocolate industry is pressuring 
the GOG to issue a high level statement no later than 
mid-June declaring its commitment to eliminate child labor 
from the cocoa sector. Industry reps hope such a step may 
persuade members of Congress to drop draft legislation that 
would require chocolate to be certified as child labor-free. 
Members of the Congress have indicated they are reconsidering 
such legislation if industry fails to meet a July 1 deadline 
to certify that cocoa used in its products does not rely on 
the worst forms of child labor.  Post has met with the U.S. 
manufacturers and engaged the Foreign Minister, Trade 
Minister and staff at the Presidency on the cocoa/child labor 
issue. End summary. 
 
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MEETING WITH MINISTRY OF MANPOWER 
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2. (SBU) After World Cocoa Foundation and other industry 
meetings in Brussels in May, U.S. industry reps traveled to 
Ghana to press the GOG to adopt their certification proposal. 
In a meeting on May 24, Mars and Hershey's reps outlined for 
the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment (MMYE) a 
process in which a GOG agency would certify a statistically 
representative sample of Ghana's yearly crop each fall and 
issue an annual report the following spring. U.S. 
manufacturers believe this approach is far more realistic and 
affordable than attempting to guarantee that no child labor 
is used on any of Ghana's estimated 800,000 cocoa farms. This 
approach may adapt the survey tools and monitoring performed 
by volunteer district-level committees as piloted in the West 
African Commercial Agricultural Project (WACAP), a program 
jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and industry 
that is designed to identify and remove child laborers from 
cocoa farms (see reftel). (Note: In the WACAP model, the 
International Labor Organization (ILO) pays for each child 
laborer's school fees or vocational training. In some cases, 
ILO provides modest assistance to the child's parents as 
well. End note.) According to U.S. industry's proposal, an 
independent group composed of NGO representatives would then 
verify the results of the GOG's certification. Such a group 
already exists, and includes child labor experts from several 
organizations. The group conducted a pilot of its 
verification process and took field visits with MMYE 
officials in Ghana the week of May 27. MMYE is continuing 
working sessions to determine the report's structure and 
whether it will cover all child labor or all child labor in 
agriculture rather than just the cocoa sector. 
 
3. (SBU) In the May 24 meeting, U.S. manufacturers advocated 
targeted social programs to address those cocoa-producing 
communities with the highest incidence of or most severe 
child labor. However, industry reps did not offer any details 
on how much financial support, if any, they are willing to 
contribute. They told MMYE officials that only a GOG-funded 
certification process would be credible to Congress and 
industry critics. Initially, MMYE Chief Director Addai 
Kyeremeh countered that stakeholders felt industry and 
consumers of Ghana's cocoa should finance a certification 
solution. Then MMYE Deputy Minister for Social Development 
Akosua Frema Osei-Opare interjected that she was willing to 
explore a partnership between the GOG and industry to arrive 
at a solution. She hinted that development partners such as 
the USG should finance the certification.  Osei-Opare said 
she accepted that the GOG had the responsibility to ensure 
that cocoa was child labor-free, but she pleaded that her 
resource-strapped ministry had no budget to address the 
problem. Industry reps and MMYE officials set aside the 
funding issue and continued meeting to work out the logistics 
of a certification process. 
 
4. (SBU) Industry reps told MMYE officials that to prevent 
legislation, a senior GOG official would need to publicly 
state the GOG's commitment to eliminate the worst forms of 
child labor in cocoa sufficiently in advance of the July 1 
deadline. Industry reps said only a Cabinet member of high 
stature such as the Minister of Trade and Industry, Minister 
of Finance or President Kufuor himself would be a credible 
 
 
spokesperson on this issue. (Note: Trade and Industry has 
responsibility for Ghana's cocoa exports while Finance 
oversees COCOBOD, the cocoa marketing board. End note.) They 
suggested that Kufuor personally call members of Congress to 
convey the GOG's commitment. 
 
5. (SBU) On May 27 industry reps left Ghana with no funding 
arrangement yet established.  Osei-Opare told industry that 
she would personally call Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, inister of 
Tourism and Modernisation of the Capial City and President 
John Kufuor's two-time presdential campaign manager, to ask 
him to infor Kufuor of the July 1 deadline and its 
ramifications by no later than May 27. However, she told post 
on June 7 that she never made the call. She said MMYE was 
consumed with the verification pilot and her only outreach on 
this issue was to brief Deputy Minister of Finance Dr. George 
Djan-Baffour. She said she planned to meet this week with 
Djan-Baafour, a counterpart at the Ministry of Trade and 
Industry and COCOBOD Chief Executive Kwame Sarpong who is 
known to have direct access to Kufuor on cocoa matters. She 
also said she would press for a meeting with President Kufuor 
on this issue. (Note: Among senior Cabinet members, only 
Minister for Finance and Economic Planning Kwadwo Baah Wiredu 
has addressed this issue publicly since Kufuor's re-election. 
He made a brief remark in the business press noting that he 
had meetings in Washington on this topic earlier this year. 
End note.) 
 
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MORE GOG MEETINGS 
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6. (SBU) On May 23 industry reps met with Jake Obetsebi 
Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital 
City and President John Kufuor's two-time presidential 
campaign manager. The U.S. companies told PolOff they were 
alarmed to hear Lamptey deny outright that Ghana used child 
labor in cocoa production. They said that despite their close 
work with MMYE over the past two years and numerous trips to 
Ghana, clearly the GOG was spotty in its acknowledgment of 
the problem at its highest levels. They later told MMYE 
officials that if Lamptey's comment had appeared in the 
press, it would have undermined all their efforts to persuade 
members of Congress that significant progress toward 
certification had been made.  Osei-Opare said she completely 
agreed and that President Kufuor needed to understand how 
seriously legislation could harm Ghana's economy and 
international image. 
 
7. (SBU)  On May 27, industry reps and their lobbyist met 
Minister of Trade and Industry Alan Kyerematen to press for a 
senior GOG official to take political leadership on the 
issue. Industry's lobbyist, a former USTR official who 
reportedly consults with the ministry on AGOA-related 
opportunities, praised Kyerematen's skill, as a former 
Ambassador to the U.S., in lobbying members of Congress to 
block clauses that would have rendered AGOA less effective. 
She said the GOG needed to settle on a credible certification 
process and take it public in advance of the July 1 deadline. 
 
8. (SBU) Kyerematen said he first became aware of the issue 
as Ambassador to the U.S. in 2001 when British media reports 
accused Cote d'Ivoire of using child slaves on cocoa 
plantations. Kyerematen told industry reps, "In Washington, 
you need someone speaking for you." He agreed that the issue 
had the potential to seriously damage Ghana's cocoa exports 
and international image, particularly if Ghana were believed 
to be using child slaves in cocoa farming. He said 
international observers must understand that Ghana is 
addressing the poverty and lack of access to rural education 
that result in child labor through a range of initiatives, 
including expansion of basic education, school lunch programs 
and the GOG's poverty reduction strategies. He also suggested 
that the Minister of Education and Sports Yaw Osafo-Maafo and 
the Minister of Finance could issue a public statement on 
GOG's comprehensive approach to rural poverty and education. 
While Kyerematen appeared receptive to industry's requests 
for lobbying, he did not make any specific commitments to 
speak out on the issue. However, the industry's lobbyist 
proposed working with Kyermaten on a letter that would be 
 
 
sent to key members of Congress, including the African Trade 
and Investment Caucus. The lobbyist proposed that he use his 
upcoming trip to the U.S. to inform members of Congress on 
the GOG's efforts. He was noncommittal on these suggestions. 
 
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POST ADVOCACY 
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9. (SBU) On May 27 the Ambassador met with U.S. manufacturers 
to discuss their advocacy efforts.  Industry reps said they 
had received a letter on May 24 from Senator Harkin which 
acknowledged that much progress had been made on the 
cocoa/child labor issue but requested a specific timetable 
for when certification could be rolled out sectorwide. 
Industry reps told the Ambassador they were unwilling to hang 
their careers on fixed dates in a region with so much 
unpredictability. 
 
10. (U) The Ambassador suggested that the manufacturers 
encourage Trade Minister Kyermaten to address the issue in 
his speech to the Corporate Cuncil on Africa in Baltimore on 
June 22.  (Actin Minister of Finance Chief Director Seth 
Addo sad Kyermaten is traveling, and he does not know 
Kermaten's plan or whether he has spoken to Kufuor about the 
issue. On June 7 industry's lobbyist said she had no 
knowledge of any GOG plans to speak out and that she believed 
the GOG was still doing due diligence on the extent of the 
problem and possible solutions.) On June 3, the Ambassador 
briefed Minister of Foreign Affairs Nana Akufo-Addo about the 
cocoa issue, encouraging some GOG engagement on the issue 
during President Kufuor's June 13-14 trip to Washington. 
 
11.  (U)  Later on June 3, PolChief briefed the President's 
secretary D.K. Ossei, who is also going to Washington with 
 
SIPDIS 
Kufuor, on the cocoa issue. Neither he nor the Foreign 
Minister were aware of this issue prior to post's meeting but 
appeared to understand its importance. Poloff also 
accompanied U.S. manufacturers to their earlier meetings with 
the MMYE and with Trade Minister Kyerematen. 
 
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Comment 
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12.  (SBU)  The next few weeks will be critical for the U.S. 
manufacturers in their efforts to put together some kind of 
child labor certification plan.  There is potentially a great 
deal at stake for Ghana as well, given the importance of 
cocoa to its economy.  After the May 24 meeting with MMYE, 
U.S. industry reps said Osei-Opare was visibly shaken by the 
burden of this issue, which has such large ramifications for 
Ghana's economy. As the lead GOG ministry charged with 
addressing child labor, MMYE has exerted much energy on this 
issue. However, this ministry does not have the standing in 
the Cabinet to claim the vast resources required to address 
the worst forms of child labor in cocoa, nor do its leaders 
have the credibility to lead Ghana to undertake significant 
change in a critical sector of its economy. While MMYE is 
taking the issue seriously, it has not yet garnered much 
attention from senior Cabinet members or the President. 
Without Kufuor's explicit blessing, likely Presidential 
contenders like the Trade and Foreign ministers will be 
cautious on this politically sensitive issue, which could 
affect the livelihood of thousands of cocoa producers here. 
 
YATES 
 
 
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