Six Children Rescued From Slave Labour

Six teenagers, aged between 15 and 17 who were adducted from their village, Kadema, in the Builsa District and sent to La Cote d’lvoire to work on cocoa farms, have been rescued and are back home with their parents.

The children had been working as child labourers on the farms since January this year. Disclosing this to the “Ghanaian Times” in an interview, Police, Inspector Ali Seidu in charge of the Sandema Police Station, said two men, Kofi Asempana Achaab 29 and Kobena Azango, 30, both farmers from Kadema, are helping the police in their investigation into how the children were abducted. He said on July 11, the Chief of Kadema reported to the police that Achaab and Azango had lured some pupils and abducted them to Cote d’Ivoire.

Acting on the information, the two were arrested and they admitted the offence and pledged to bring the children back. They then proceeded to Cote d’Ivoire. But Azango did not return to Ghana. The child labourers whose contract was 85,000 CFA per season, could not be paid because until their return home, they had worked for eight months and were departing unceremoniously.