Don’t give to child beggars - Gender Minister advises
The growing number of child beggars on the streets of Accra and other major cities in the country can be minimised if the public desist from giving them alms.
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The public, especially residents of cities should, therefore, discourage the practice by declining to give cash to children engaged in begging, sometimes under dangerous circumstances on the streets.
The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Lariba Zuweira Abudu, made the appeal when she took her turn at the Meet the Press Series in Accra last Sunday to update the public on the various programmes under the ministry.
She said over the years, the number of child beggars had risen despite efforts bythe government to rid the streets of them, most of whom were foreigners either trafficked into the country or forced by their guardians to engage in the humiliating activity.
Ms Abudu said already, the government had repatriated about 400 of such foreign child beggars, but was overwhelmed to note that many more had resurfaced on the streets only a few months after.
“We have done a lot to take them from the streets, but somehow they find themselves back.
“We even repatriated 400 of them and engaged the embassies here, but they find ways to come back so we have to stop giving money to minors on the streets because as adults, I don’t see why we should be giving money to six year olds on the streets,” the minister stressed.
She said the government did not have the resources to repatriate the child beggars presently on the streets but would encourage the public to shun them and desist from giving them cash to help force them out of the streets.
“If you don’t give them today and I don’t give them tomorrow, next week they will be forced to leave the streets and move away,” the minister added.
Situation
It appears there is no end in sight of the menace, as more children are on the streets of Accra, the national capital.
The child beggars, some accompanied by their parents, have extended their begging activities beyond traffic light intersections across the central business district to residential areas, including Mataheko First Light, the Dansoman Highway, Old Barrier in the Ga South Municipality, the East Legon-Shiashie road, the main Tetteh Quarshie-Madina road, the Dzorwulu-Royal Fiesta intersection, among others.
The old areas where they used to operate included Kaneshie First Light, the Graphic Road, El-Wak, the 37 Military Hospital Bus Stop and hospital area, Abeka Lapaz and Paloma on the Ring Road.
Now some street children have added the peddling of petty items to the practice of begging for alms from motorists.
The items they sell include small paint brushes, air fresheners, cotton buds, shoe brushes and face masks.
The children, some as young as three years, criss-cross the busy roads during traffic hold ups to sell their items.
Motorists sometimes go through harassment at the hands of these children, as some of them knock on the windows of vehicles in a bid to get the attention of drivers and occupants.
In some instances, they also scratch the bodies of vehicles with metals, stones and anything they have in their hands.
On the blind side of drivers, the children, in many instances, rudely peep into vehicles as if they are looking for something.