Stop hurting children!
Two children, aged two and four, lost their lives through suffocation on Saturday, January 11, 2013 after they were trapped in their father’s car at Asofa, near Achimota, in Accra.
Advertisement
Media reports indicated that four-year-old Samuel Okuampah-Ntow and two-year-old Samuela Okuampah met their untimely death when they found their way into their father’s taxi, after he had parked it and gone into a church with their mother for a meeting.
It was discovered that the father, Francis Okuampah-Ntow did not lock the car, making it possible for them to gain easy access to the cab and eventually getting stifled to death.
It is important to state that this sad incident is not being recounted here to cause pain to the bereaved family or anybody directly affected by the demise of the little “angels,” Samuel and Samuela.
It is being recapped to point to the disturbing fact that too many Ghanaian children are losing their lives through preventable calamities and society must wake up to its responsibility to protect the lives of the country’s future leaders.
While public discussions on the preventable death of the Okuampah-Ntow children were still hot and buzzing, news broke that a jealous woman who was consumed by hatred had burnt an innocent girl at Tantra Hill in Accra to death.
Out of possessiveness, disgust and a desire for retaliation, the woman, Afua Badu (33), allegedly set her ex-husband, Peter Amos Asorbayire; his new wife, Felicity, and Felicity’s daughter, Sarah, ablaze and went into hiding.
Afua, a chop bar (food joint) operator, was said to have been married to the deceased ex-hubby for seven years and had two children with him.
The Ghanaian child deserves better care and protection from all older people and indeed, the State and that is emphasised in the laws of this country.
Part 1, Section 8, Children’s Act 560, 1998 under the “Right to education and well-being,” clearly states that, “No person shall deprive a child access to education, immunisation, adequate diet, clothing, shelter, medical attention or any other thing required for his/her development.”
So why did the Tema Development Corporation (TDC), which is mandated to bring development to the people, including children, decide to undertake a demolition exercise at Adjei Kojo Promised Land, near Ashaiman, in a manner that exposed the lives of the youngsters to danger?
The TDC, on Tuesday, January 21, 2014 demolished about 40 houses at Adjei Kojo, claiming ownership of the land which the home owners also insisted they had lawfully bought from the chiefs of the area.
I stand for correction but what I know is that no steps were taken to provide alternative shelter for children before the houses in which they lived with their parents and guardians were pulled down.
It was reported that following the demolition exercise, some of the children slept outside in the open, unprotected from the inclement weather conditions.
Some could not go to school, days after the demolition, because their uniforms were in their rooms, which had been reduced to rubbles by the roaring TDC bulldozers that literally crushed the homes of the children into grits.
It appears that the flagrant assault on Ghanaian children may not end if efforts are not made to consciously protect them from insensitive adults who continually engage in acts that disturb, maim or even kill them.
Parents have the biggest responsibility to protect and care for their children and as the future leaders of this country, the State and its agencies like the Tema Development Corporation must not do anything that will harm them.
Meanwhile, I will encourage the parents, guardians and any person fit to represent the interests of the children of Adjei Kojo, as well as concerned legal practitioners in this country, to sue the TDC in court on behalf of the displaced children to send a clear signal to everybody that nobody can, and should toy with the lives and welfare of Ghanaian children – the future leaders of this great nation.
Catch me here: [email protected] / Follow me on Twitter@WillieAsiedu.