We don’t send young women abroad for prostitution-- Christian NGO

It described the case involving a young woman who was repatriated back to Ghana on medical grounds after she had served some months in Kuwait as an isolated case which had nothing to do with prostitution.

The members of the delegation, including the Dzaase Stool Father of the Ada Traditional Area, Nene Kubieefrititi Odumankuma Boadie, and the Chief of Ocansey Korpey, Ada, Nene Tettey Apklehe Ocansey II, made the denial when they called on the Deputy Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Kingsley Inkoom, in Accra.

The delegation, comprising pastors and traditional leaders, expressed worry over the extensive coverage which had been given to the arrest of Princess Ocansey,  the leader of the NGO, for her alleged involvement in human trafficking.

A member of Channel United Pastors (CUP), Pastor Cudjoe Afeku, said he had been working in the ministry for 30 years but there had not been any occasion that the organisation had been involved in human trafficking of young women for prostitution.

Pastor Afeku alleged that one of the young women who benefited from the scheme had a mental challenge but that problem had not been made known to the organisation before she left for Kuwait.

According to him, while the lady was working in Kuwait as a domestic servant, it was detected that she had a mental challenge, for which reason she had to return home.

Unfortunately, Pastor Afeku said, on her return the young woman told a different story.

He explained that before the beneficiaries of the programme travelled abroad, their pastors and parents were made to sign undertakings and, therefore, the publication that the beneficiaries had been trafficked was worrying to the members of the organisation.

According to him, Channels of Blessing started in 2007 and there had not been any problem.

“I have five members of my church who have travelled abroad under the auspices of the Channels of Blessings and so far there is no problem with any of them,” Pastor Afeku stated.

The group expressed confidence in their leader, stating that she was not capable of trafficking young girls to foreign countries to suffer molestation.

They stated that Princess Ocansey was not arrested on February 6, this year, as reported, but that she was invited for questioning in August last year.

Princess Ocansey was arrested by the police for allegedly recruiting young Ghanaian women and men to Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia to work as domestic servants and butchers.

Story by Naa Lamiley Bentil