President of Ghana needed to fix Sussex computers issue

Campaigner Jib Hagan will appeal to the President of Ghana in hopes of getting the shipment – which also contains library books, tables and chairs – released and delivered to Ghanain schoolchilren.

“Everybody’s effort has come to zero,” said Mr Hagan, founder of CARE (collect and recycle ecologically) computers for developing countries.

“They only way we can get the cargo released is to appeal to the President of Ghana.”

CARE has spent years working to send unwanted computers to schools in Ghana, where most children leave without ICT skills.

But a legal dispute has meant that a shipment has been stuck at a port in Ghana since November last year.

Mr Hagan has been gathering signatures in Worthing and Lancing and will take them to the President of Ghana – a former Lancing College pupil – in the hopes of resolving the issue.

He added: “We have signed a peaceful petition that I will be going to deliver myself.”

Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, has long-supported CARE’s work to boost ICT education.

He said: “Jib has done a fantastic job with CARE sending computers from Sussex to schools in Ghana as part of a comprehensive environmental education programme.

“Local pupils have been able to speak to their counterparts in Ghana to see the real difference that his good work is doing.

“Despite all his hard work and the generosity of donors and volunteers at home it is deeply frustrating that the latest consignment of computers has been trapped by the authorities in transit in Ghana.

“It is extraordinary that the authorities are not prepared to do more to help their own children benefit from this charity’s generosity.

“I have taken this up with the Ghanaian Government and will continue to bring pressure to bear.”