MP Says She Has Spent GH¢60,000 Trying To Free Constituents Wrongly Jailed For Child Trafficking

• The Afram Plains North MP has said she is still fighting to free some constituents she believes are being wrongly prosecuted for trafficking
• In a YEN.com.gh exclusive interview, she said she has spent some GH¢60,000 on legal fees for some of her constituents facing jail time
• The MP said there are nine constituents she is trying to help overcome prosecution for alleged child trafficking

Afram Plains North MP Betty Krosbi Mensah has revealed she is still fighting to free some of her constituents who she believes were wrongly arrested for alleged child trafficking.

Speaking to YEN.com.gh in an exclusive interview, the NDC MP said she had spent about GH¢60,000 to help with the legal defence for some of these constituents in the Aframs Plains.

Mensah was speaking after a BBC report revealed wrongful cases of child trafficking pursued by a foreign NGO called International Justice Mission (IJM).

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Currently, she said there are nine of her constituents she is fighting for, two of whom have been jailed because of the work of the foreign NGO.

“As I speak to you now, I have two of my constituents rotting in jail because IJM decided to prosecute them, which the Ghana Police Service stood with against the people," she said.

She noted that these concerns existed even before she became an MP in 2017.

As part of the way forward, Mensah said a more nuanced approach was needed to understand the trend of children working on the Volta Lake.

“You realise from the report that most of these could be issues of child labour that needed a little bit of sensitization, a little bit of advocacy and a little bit of education to put them on the right path," she told YEN.com.gh.

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Mother separated from children

The BBC reported that a mother had been wrongly sentenced to five years in jail for child trafficking.

This mother had two children who were removed from her family and taken away.

She eventually spent two years in jail before being released, but she has yet to be reunited with her family.

International NGOs accused of brainwashing Ghanaians

The Afram Plains North MP accused such international NGOs of misleading and brainwashing Ghanaians on issues such as child trafficking.

She has criticised such purported rescues of trafficked children in the past.

She was, however, excited that the BBC investigation had exposed the possible adverse effects of some foreign NGOs operating in Ghana.

Source: YEN.com.gh