Couple Held For Trafficking Three Girls

Story by Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu

The Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVISU) of the Ghana Police Service has arrested a couple for allegedly attempting to traffic three young girls from Ghana to Cote d’Ivoire.

The couple, Kwesi Nyame, 27, and Akuba Kojokyirie, were reported to have lured the children, aged 10, 12 and 13, during break-time at school with the promise of lucrative jobs and happy lifestyles in Cote d’Ivoire which would be the envy of their compatriots back home.

They were arrested with the girls while crossing the Ghana side of the Ghana-Cote d’Ivoire border at Jewi Wharf.
The girls, whose names were withheld, have since been re-united with their families.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic shortly before the couple were whisked to court, Nyame said he was a farm labourer at Nsuekyiri in Cote d’Ivoire.

He said his master asked him to look for young girls to help his sister, who was a food vendor.

“I then proceeded to Ghana, met the girls and told them about my mission and they all agreed to go with me. So I was taking them to my master who had provided funds for their transport to Nsuekyiri,” he said.

Asked if he had informed the families of the children, he retorted in vernacular, “Master, that was the mistake I made. That was because the children told me that if I did so, their parents would not agree.”

He said that was the first time he had been asked to bring children to Cote d’Ivoire but it was not for any bad intention.

“I was just responding to my master’s call and it has landed me in trouble, with handcuffs on my hands and on my wife’s,” he said.

According to the Unit Commander of the DOVVISU, Ms Cecelia Arko, the couple were arrested after somebody who knew the children had confronted Nyame over where he was taking the children to.

She said when Nyame could not provide any tangible answer, the informant called the families of the children at Nbem in the Jomoro District to enquire if they had authorised the suspects to travel to Cote d’Ivoire with the children.

The unit commander said the parents of the children expressed surprise at the development and based on that the informant made a report to Immigration authorities at the border, who effected the arrest of the couple.