No Justice For Boy, 16, Who Lost Leg On Duty [PHOTO]

The woes of Jerome Afaglo, the sixteen-year-old boy whose leg was chopped off after a machine crushed his limps while working at Indian firm, Gravita Company, seems to be deepening with the passing of each day as his bosses are using the hands of state institutions to subvert the course of justice. The manager of the Gravita Company, Manesh Kumar, in connivance with the Labour Office in Tema are pressuring the family of Master Afaglo to accept a Cheque of GH�11,000.00 as a pay-off for his lost leg and funding of the future ambitions of the 16-year-old lad. Snippets of information gathered by your authoritative Daily Heritage suggest that the monies being offered is a ploy hatched in an attempt to settle the issue before the anti-human trafficking unit of the Ghana Police Service fixes a date to prosecute the Gravita boss in court. Sources close to the management of recycling company argue that the GH�11,000.00 is an insurance package calculated to compensate the injuries suffered by Master Afaglo while working at the facility. This comes on the heels of the Daily Heritage reportage on the plight of the 16-year-old boy in a story captioned. �Gravita Boss Arrested �over under age worker�s tragic accident.� Speaking to the paper in a telephone interview, a family head, Rev. Israel Kumardzi, said the family of the 16-year-old boy were summoned to appear before the labour office in Tema through a phone call from one of its staff. �When we arrived, we were handed a cheque of GH�11,000.00 and some documents to sign detailing what came across as compensation for Jerome�s injuries. We declined and left the office in rage,� he added. He questioned the process and factors considered in the calculation of the monies meant to compensate the boy. �Is GH�11,000.00 worth the future of this little boy�s leg and future? Would it be able to cater for his educational ambitions? When we are dead and gone, how is he going to survive trapped to a wheel chair?� he quizzed. The family head appealed to the police administration to ensure that justice is served the little boy who could miss a shot at achieving his ambitions if his rights are not protected. Checks by the Daily Heritage indicate that Master Afaglo has gained admission into one of the best senior high schools in the country after scoring good grades in the recent B.E.C.E. but is yet to have an opportunity to attend his first lessons. However, the very thing that drove him to seek employment at the car battery recycling plant-money is making it impossible to pay his admission fees to commence schooling. He hopes to become a nurse in future. It would be recalled that the Daily Heritage published an article on the plight of a 16-year-old boy, Jerome Afaglo, whose desire to further his senior high school education after completing J.H.S picked up a job as an under-age to work in dehumanizing condition at a car battery recycling plant, Gravita Company, in the Tema Industrial area, in order to raise money to fund his dream. Barely a week after he was employed by his bosses without recourse to the fact that he was under-aged, a crusher machine he was grinding car batteries with crushed one of his legs in the process of dispensing his duty as a faithful worker. Promises by officials of the company to insure his future and fix his lost limp has however, become a pipe dream after his discharge from the hospital.