By Ama Achiaa Amankwah
A Jamaican born British, Marilyn Taylor, (alias Ms. Bouquet) suspected to be involved in human trafficking has been arrested by the police and granted enquiry bail.
A police source told Public Agenda that a docket has been forwarded to the Attorney General’s Department for advice and further directives.
Ms Bouquet, 52 years was arrested on June 17, 2006 after a complaint was lodged with the police about her activities. She is reported to be training the youth between the ages of 18 to 25 to work as house helps, nannies and drivers.
A source at the police headquarters told Public Agenda she has neither registered her so called ‘agency’ nor has she a resident permit.
Police moved in to investigate her activities when some of her ‘students’ reported her. According to the police majority of the complainants hail from Takoradi and claim they were introduced to the training programme by two men in Takoradi.
Some said they heard the advertisement on the radio about job vacancies for people between the ages of eighteen to twenty-five with free accommodation and a good salary.
The complainants, mostly unemployed JSS and SSS school leavers told the police that initially they were informed they were going to be trained as cooks and chefs for a period of six weeks, after which they would be given jobs in popular hotels and restaurants.
They explained they only got to know they were heading for Tema when they got to the transport yard. They stated even though they were told everything was free, they were made to pay for their own transportation from Takoradi to Tema.
At Ms Bouquet’s house, all the girls sleep in a room furnished with student beds and mattresses. The complainants claim they only ate from the house when the engaged in cooking practicals.
They told the police some of their colleagues in the house go out to work for people and return in the evening to sleep. But most of the complainants told the police they believe what they experienced was slavery as whatever money they made from working went into the pocket of Ms Bouquet.
While in the house, some of the rules and regulations stipulated for their stay include, “don’t go out of the house without permission, avoid quarrels in the house, you are to get up at 5am daily, do not spit in the house and do not eat food that has not been given to you’ among others.
When Ms Bouquet was arrested she told the police she first came to Ghana in 2003 from England on holiday, but left after a month. She said she returned and lodged at the La Palm Hotel for four months. However, upon suggestion by a friend working an NGO in Ghana, she bought a house at Tema Community twenty-one.
She stated that after visiting some suburbs in Accra and organizing a party for children in those areas, she was touched and adopted five of them, two from Chorkor and three from Tema.
Consequently she employed the services of a house help through an agency in Takoradi but claimed she was not good. Therefore she decided to train her own house helps. Ms Bouquet told the police she teaches her ‘students’ how to cook, iron, wash, serve people and to be able to cook continental dishes.
The woman claims she has since December 2005, trained fifteen house helps and sent them out to work for people but has contacts with only two of them.
Prospective students of Ms Bouquet’s school are made to buy a registration form between ¢20,000 and ¢22, 000 with a letter head which reads, “Welcome to Ms Bouquet’s Domestic and Commercial Services.” An amount of ¢500,000 is then paid as tuition fees. The amount is deducted from the salary of trainees who are unable to pay when they start working.
Like any application form, there is space to be filled by a referee in the person of a pastor, senior civil servant, head teacher, doctor and police/military officer or a chief.
Trainees are made to also fill an agreement form / declaration form. People who request the services of these ‘graduate domestic assistants / house helps” make an initial payment of ¢500, 000 for a nanny, ¢550,000 for a house girl, and ¢600,000 for a house boy. The rest are ¢650,000 for a driver and ¢700,000 for house help care.
When these domestics assistants start working, their clients are made to pay monthly salary of between ¢850, 000 to ¢2, 500, 000, depending on the duties.
No comments:
Post a Comment