PLAN Ghana, a child-centered Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) has held a stakeholders’ meeting at Asesewa in the Upper Manya Krobo District during which various factors militating against the welfare of children, especially in the district, were discussed.
In all, 38 participants represented the stakeholders which included the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, Judicial Service, National Commission For Civil Education (NCCE), Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana Education Service and the district assembly.
Topics discussed included outmoded Krobo customary rites such as Lapom which is the presentation of a sheep, drinks and money by a father to claim a child born out of marriage and Yobam, presentation of drinks by a man to the parents of a woman for the parents to allow their daughter to stay with him as a wife although the marriage rites have not been performed.
These outmoded customary rites according to the participants, had led to the neglect of a large number of children not only in the Manya Krobo Traditional Area, but the entire Dangme areas.
They, therefore, called on the paramount chiefs and queens in such areas to either modify or scrap them in the interest of the children.
Setting the ball rolling, the Eastern Regional Police Officer in charge of the DOVVSU, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mrs Eunice Annor, said most of the child neglect cases being handled by her outfit were due to the Lapom and Yobam customary rites.
She explained that most of the men who fathered such unfortunate children were either not willing to perform the rites or were too poor to do so.
DSP Annor said in such a situation, while the mothers of the children never tasted proper marriages, the children were left with their mothers or aged grandparents who could not even feed them let alone cater for their education.
She stated that as a result, such unfortunate children normally grew up as miscreants in the society.
DSP Annor also delved into other aspects of child abuse such as rape, defilement and various cruel treatments meted out to children.
She, therefore, called on assembly members to take the issues, especially the outmoded customs, to the traditional rulers in the area to see how best they could be addressed.
The Upper Manya Krobo District Director of the NCCE, Mr Alexander Owusu Siaw, told the gathering that although his outfit had been educating the people in the area on child welfare, a number of parents and relatives still subjected their children to all forms of child abuse, but said with education, such abuses would be reduced.
The CHRAJ Director for Upper Manya Krobo, Lower Manya Krobo and Yilo Krobo, Mr James Awumey, said although his outfit had been able to settle many cases of child neglect, many more which could not be settled had been sent to either CHRAJ or the law courts.
Plan Ghana’s Community Facilitator in charge of Child Abuse in the Asesewa area, Madam Victoria Minimade, said training of facilitators and review meetings on child protection in the area would be sustained to ensure that most of the children were properly taken care of by their parents.
Earlier, Plan Ghana’s Asesewa Area Manager, Mr Joseph Appiah, said apart from seeing to the welfare of children, Plan had also given out or facilitated micro-finance schemes for women in the area, especially single mothers, to enable them to educate their children.
He said Plan had been working in 300 communities in 16 districts and gave the assurance that Plan would not relent its efforts to make life worth living for children and women.
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