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Couple jailed for human trafficking
A 40-year-old fishmonger and her 63-year-old fiance (boyfriend) a fisherman, have been convicted and jailed by a Ho High Court for child trafficking.
The fishmonger, Madam Aku Kedevi would spend 10 years in prison whist her boyfriend, Mr. Michael Boti would also spend eight years behind bars.
The convicts are said to have earned a “lot of income” from their illegal business of trafficking children aged between nine and 16 years from one village to another in the Volta Region and “rented” them out to engage in fishing and selling of fish to the detriment of their education.
Though they pleaded not guilty to the offences of conspiracy and human trafficking, the court presided by Mr Justice Eric Baah, a Supervising High Court Judge, found their conduct quite reprehensible and jailed them accordingly after a full trial.
The court again ordered Madam Kedevi and Mr Boti (convicts) to pay GH¢ 5,000.00 to each of the nine victims (children) for subjecting them to inhuman treatment and also denying them their right to education.
The arrest of the two lovebirds stemmed from a phone call by one of the trafficked children who was sent to take a mobile phone to someone in the community and took advantage of the errand to call his aunt at Wegbe and narrated the ordeal he and his younger brother of nine years were going through leading to their rescue.
A State Attorney, Mr Andrews D. Adugu told the court that Madam Kedevi and Mr. Boti were residents of Kpoviedzi and Akpokiife island respectively who, between 2015 and 2017 succeeded in trafficking nine children including a Nigerian and two girls from their homes to locations far away to work on the Volta Lake and outside the lake.
According to the State Prosecutor, the convicts exploited the children by collecting huge sums of money from some fishermen and fishmongers before releasing the children to work for them on and outside the Volta Lake.
Mr Adugu, said that in one instance, Madam Kedevi convinced the uncle of a 15-year-old boy who was attending school at Wegbe, near Hohoe, to allow him to come and spend his holidays with her at Ehi in the Ketu North District.
The prosecution said that Kedevi then took the boy to Ehi for some days before transporting him to Boti at Akpoklikofe, near Kete-Krachi, under the pretext of buying text books for him but instead collected an amount of GH¢ 4,000.00 from Boti under an agreement that the boy would work for him for five years.
The prosecution stated that after collecting the money, Kedevi then sneaked out, leaving the boy behind. The next day, the victim was forced into fishing and worked on daily basis for three years.
As if that was not enough, Madam Kedevi later brought the nine-year-old brother of the victim to the same place where he was also forced into enslaved labour.
The prosecution said that Madam Kedevi again recruited seven children between the ages of nine and 16 from Ehi to Boti at Akpoklikofe to work as fishermen and fishmongers.
However, on May 16, 2018, the police, acting on intelligence, carried out an operation and rescued two of the children on the island who gave out information leading to the rescue of the other children.
All the children told the police that, Kedevi convinced their parents that she would send them to school and look after them.
The prosecution said that Kedevi in her caution statement admitted that she recruited the children from Ehi for the fishing business at Akpoklikofe but said that she did so with the consent of their parents. This was corroborated by the second convict, Mr Boti.
From Alberto Mario Noretti, Ho
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Swedru All Blacks back to winning ways, Roshan humble King Faisal
Sekondi Rospak FC made it eight wins in eight successive home games after three second-half goals from John Amoah, Joseph Ntow and Stephen Anthony Kofi. John Amoah opened the scoring in the 55th minute after a barren first half. Joseph Ntow added to the tally in the 56th minute before Stephen Anthony Kofi rounded things up in the 74th minute to give Rospak a 3-0 win over former Premier League side King Faisal.
Elsewhere at Swedru – leaders Swedru All Blacks humbled PAC Academy in an emphatic 2-0 win. Zayat Bubakari scored first for Swedru All Blacks in the 27th minute before Rudolf Junior Nana Kwasi Mensah made it 2-0 in the 34th minute. Swedru All Blacks are top of the table with 36 points – 4 points ahead of second placed Rospak FC.
Meanwhile, Former Premier League side Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs recorded their fourth successive home victory after beaten New Edubiase United 2-1 at the Robert Mensah Park. Enoch Odoom struck first for Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs in the 19th minute but Steven Asante equalized for New Edubiase United before halftime. After the interval, Godfred Eshun scored from distance in the 65th minute to help Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs secure all the points.
Here are the results in Zone Two
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Cervical Cancer alert: Avoid sex at early age
The Programmes Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Mary Efua Commeh, has advised young girls to avoid sex at an early age.
This, she explained, will give the cervix the opportunity to mature before they become sexually active.
“You need to delay what we call the first sexual intercourse as much as possible to give the cervix the opportunity to mature before the person becomes sexually active,” she said.
Dr Commeh stated this in an interview with The Spectator in Accra on Tuesday as a part of the Cervical Cancer awareness month.
According to her, cervical cancer was the second leading female cancer in Ghana with a total of about 3,072 cases annually, and out of that, 1,815 deaths are recorded, representing more than 50 per cent.
She indicated that “If young girls are going to be sexually active, then you need to talk to your parents about being vaccinated.”
She explained that vaccinating young girls against human papillomavirus (HPV) has been found to be a very effective way of preventing cervical cancer.
“There are countries that started HPV vaccination years ago and they are not seeing any cervical cancers now because they would have eliminated most of the high-risk HPVs in their women. So if the high-risk HPV is not there, then obviously the results on cervical cancers are going to go down,” she added.
Dr Commmey said the HPV vaccination is recommended for young girls aged nine to 14 years, adding that it had been found to be highly effective, not just for cervical cancers but for other HPV-related cancers, such as anal cancers, cancers of the vagina, genital warts, amongst others.
She further elaborated that the idea is to put up a barrier before the HPV comes in and that once a young female encounters it, she is already protected.
She also mentioned that for cervical cancers, the main cause is called HPV infection, saying generally, all sexually active women acquire HPV at some point in their lives.
However, the Programmes Manager of NCDs at the GHS mentioned that the body has a way of clearing the HPV, explaining that it is a natural mechanism that goes on, unfortunately, there are a few women whose HPV persists.
Moreover, she noted that the numbers for Cervical Cancer tend to be much higher because at times, clients would wait, and try all sorts of medications before they finally report to the health facility saying “we actually lose some women before they get to the hospitals with over 75 per cent of the cases coming in its third and fourth stages.”
Dr Commey, therefore, called for public awareness while ensuring the availability of information for prevention and control.
By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu
