National Democratic
Congress’ (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Afram Plains North Constituency,
Betty Crosby Mensah has chided the Eastern Regional Police Command for the
disappearance of seven children after the police raided the Volta Lake on a
rescue mission.
Speaking in an interview on Joy News, the MP, who expressed anger at the action of the police, stated that the strategy adopted by the police was wrong.
“I cannot interfere in the work of the police but after 24 hours of the operation, seven of our children can still not be found so what good have they (police) done to the community?” She asked.
Betty Crosby Mensah , MP for Afram Plains North Constituency
She said the police
need to come clear on their definition of child labour and trafficking because
they may be wrong in their operation.
“The police should
come out and clearly define what modern slavery and trafficking is because that
is where we have a challenge because when you find someone with their children
working on the river and you call that trafficking, it is an abuse of the
people,” she said.
However, the Deputy Public Relations Officer of the Eastern Regional Police, Francis Gomado in a sharp rebuttal in the same interview said they had concrete evidence for the work they did.
“The fact is we have
concrete evidence to that effect and we engaged stakeholders as well as an
undercover done before the operation and we have pictorial evidence of those
trafficked and their foster fathers.
“So the claims of the
MP are false and factually incorrect because we have rescued 16 between the
ages of 5 and 13 and the circumstances under the rescue was very surprising,”
he stated.
Nine men from
Edrakpota, a fishing community in Afram Plains in the Eastern region were
arrested on the Volta Lake for using children for fishing and hazardous work.
Some of the children
who run into the bush during the operation are yet to be found.
Source: Gertrude
Otchere | Adomonline