The Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare on Tuesday directed the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to ensure that child labour is eliminated on cocoa farms. Mr. Enoch Teye Mensah, the sector Minister, noted that the continuous use of children to do hazardous work on farms is likely to discredit the reputation of the country in the international arena. He hinted that the US and the local cocoa industry are committing $20 million to stem the worst forms of child labour for a five-year period with effect from 2011. Mr. Mensah gave the directive when he launched the programme in Takoradi, which has been designed to span 21 new cocoa districts. This brings to 68 districts being covered by the programme nationwide. The event was attended by players in the cocoa industry, Municipal and District Chief Executives, Co-ordinating Directors and other stakeholders. Mr. Mensah appealed to heads of the assemblies to personally undertake constant monitoring on all cocoa farms to ensure that farm owners comply with the directive. “The efforts of the Ministry in energising the implementation of the programme have led to the removal of Ghana from the list of countries deemed to be using child labour in the cocoa production chain.” He said previously the programme to ensure compliance had depended heavily on non-governmental organisations, leaving the peripheral roles to district administrators. The new programme implementation strategy is to make the municipal and district assemblies the main implementation partners and urged the stakeholders to reciprocate the trust reposed in them by ensuring accountability and transparency in their work. Mr. Mensah said the programme forms part of measures to enforce the relevant laws that protect the child, such as the Children’s Act 560 of the International Labour Organisation Convention 182 and the African Charter of the Rights and Welfare of the Child. He said Ghana signed the new Harken-Engel Protocol on the Elimination of the Worst forms of Child Labour on September 13, in Washington DC. He expressed gratitude to Ghana Cocoa Board, Danish International Development Agency, World Cocoa Foundation, UNICEF and other donors for their continuous support and co-operation in the implementation of the programme. Mr. Mensah said the programme applies to people in the fishing industry who use children as helping hands. The participants prayed that the programme is extended to all sectors of the economy and trades to ensure that children are not unduly exploited. Source: GNA