PRESIDENT'S OFFICE ON GHANA'S TRAFFICKING IN

UNCLAS ACCRA 000566 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: GH KWMN PGOV PHUM SUBJECT: PRESIDENT'S OFFICE ON GHANA'S TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS LAW REF: A. ACCRA 504 ¶B. ACCRA 519 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY ¶1. (U) On March 17, PolChief and EconChief met with Kwadwo Mpiani, the President's Chief of Staff, to follow up on issues raised by the Ambassador during her March 9 meeting with President Kufuor (reftels). PolChief reiterated the importance of passing a trafficking in persons (TIP) bill by the end of April to ensure that Ghana does not jeopardize its Tier one status. ¶2. (SBU) Mpiani said it was clear that the GOG "abhors" trafficking in persons, noting the politicians had been shocked to learn of the dimension of the problem in Ghana. The GOG has decided to give the Ministry of Manpower the lead in TIP issues (because it is responsible for social welfare issues),which should resolve the longstanding bureaucratic tussle between the Ministries of Manpower and Women and Children over leadership on this issue. ¶3. (SBU) Nonetheless, Mpiani asserted that the TIP bill would not pass by the end of April because this session of parliament will be in recess from March 29 to May 10. He reassured us the bill would go before Cabinet in its next meeting, expected in early April (Cabinet has not met for several weeks.) He expected Cabinet would approve the bill without difficulty. The GOG would then have to wait until parliament reconvenes in early May before introducing the bill. (His staff had researched the option of gazetting the bill during parliament's recess but this was not legally possible.) Once introduced on the floor, the bill will be gazetted for two weeks for public commentary. After gazetting, the legislation will be referred to a committee for action. Mpiani said he would explore if parliamentary committees could review the draft bill during the recess. He was confident that the TIP law would be passed by mid-June. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: Mpiani and his staff seemed sympathetic to the anti-TIP message and had a solid understanding of our TIP concerns and Tier system. They appear to have done some homework on parliamentary procedure since the Ambassador's March 9 meeting with the President. PolChief left them a backgrounder on our TIP legislation to add to their knowledge. However, Mpiani's news about the likely timing for passage of a TIP law was discouraging. On March 9, he and the President had said a TIP law could be passed by the end of April, at the earliest. We will watch closely to see what happens with the TIP bill in the next Cabinet meeting. YATES NNNN