GETTING RID OF STREETISM– A COMMON DUTY TO ALL CITIZENS



As usual, my alarm loudly disrupted my sleep at about 4:50AM. I had to get up for work. By 6am we had set off and I was a bit angry because I felt my sweetheart had caused our lateness. I am usually not a happy man in the mornings by the way. Leaving home late in Accra means, you are likely to endure a very uncomfortable traffic for hours before getting to office. The distance between Adenta (where I live) and Asylum Down (where I work) can be travelled within 20 minutes when there is no traffic, yet it usually take an hour and a few minutes for us to get to work when we leave before 6am. Leaving home at 6am or later would mean you could take close to two hours to work.

As we drove through the bumpy dusty lane to join the main road, I put on the radio. CITI FM had given me another reason to worry. This time not for my usual egoistic personal wellbeing. I was worried about street children in Accra. It’s not as if I have not always been worried about them. I do chip some of them some few coins when am in a good mood and or have money. I ignore them at other times when I feel too tired and or have no money for them. I have always known, that street children are a problem to the society and to themselves. I have always asked myself how they survive. If a few mosquito bites are able to send me to the hospital for malaria, how many times do they get malaria from sleeping on the streets? Who takes care of them? Do they die out of it? How about their education? How many coins do they make in a day and how much is it able to cater for their daily needs? These and many thoughts have bothered me most of the time when I thought of them. Yet I had never paused to care as much as I was touch to do by the 6AM News this morning.

The story for the headline news actually revealed how a young girl had become a street child due to the cruel nature of her elder sister. This gild had been sent out of her sister’s house with GHC 10. Her sister who was angry because the girl took her child to the beach was expecting that this small girl would travel to Kumasi with the GHC 10. When this obviously failed, she had to resort to staying with other street guys she found on the road. They shelter her, play with her and provide food for her. She has started begging and doing other things for bits of money so she can survive. The Ghanaian media would probably talk about it and not state agency would take action against this cruel sister who has sent her little sister to the street.

Amazement was even more to note that some of the boys on the street are sometimes taken home by some benevolent people in the past. Yet anytime they are lucky enough to get such opportunities, their friends from the street would find a way to impress upon them to steal something from that home, bring it to them to sell so they share the proceeds. In the end, the run away from these homes. Not knowing what opportunities lay ahead of them, the steal little things like phone to sell, share with their street friends and go back to the street. Of course, they find more pleasure with the friends than the boring homes they end up getting. Indeed those who need help do not actually know they need help.

Perhaps, the concept of streetism has come into sharp focus because it is international Street Children Day. What will become of the Street children after the days celebration is over? Will they become better? Are governments taking decisions to permanently deal with this sad and dangerous phenomenon? What could individuals also do to help?

I wonder who estimate 90,000 children on the streets in Ghana. My wonder is because I know there is no data and this figure might be totally wrong. Yet, if we want to even work with this figure, then it is very frightening. Many of them were actually born on that street and they have no home anywhere to go. The ladies would probably give birth by 15 and become grandparents by 30.

Ghana's constitution in article 25(1)(a)  states “basic education shall be free, compulsory and available to all”. For the Purpose of Streetism, I believe the words Free and Compulsory are very important.  Free and compulsory creates rights for the Street Children and places and obligation on the state through government to ensure that no child of school going age is left on the street selling pure water, cleaning cars, and begging for money. This constitution is close to 30 years old. We have had 6 governments and we are in the 7th. None of these governments have taken any step at all to ensure that we have implemented the compulsory aspect of the education. It is my view that the drafters of the constitution wanted to eradicate streetism from our society and that is why they put compulsory education in there.

Our implementers, and the citizens have however, failed to ensure that we have a compulsory education in order to reduce the incidence of street children. The new government is thinking of free SHS when it has not ensured that all the kids at the basic level are educated. Let me end my legal and constitutional analysis here before I plunge into politics.

Knowing that governments in the past have not done much about streetism. I just want to urge H.E. President Nana Ado Dankwa Akufo-Addo to consider Article 25 (1)(a) of the Constitution 1992 and ensure that enough schools are build, enough teachers are recruited, and police deployed to make sure that every child of school going age is not left on the street. You may criticise me for lack of details on how this can be achieved, but you know that it is the duty of the government to think of the details. I have done my part by being a citizen and not a spectator.

The private sector can also be involved. For example, Companies that pick up street children and ensure they are catered for in School can be given some tax rebates.

Now to my friends and readers. I think we can come together. We can pull our little resources together. We can set up a CIVIC Organisation that will help take care of Street Children from all parts and at all stages. We can do public advocacy for them and we can pay for a few school fees. Let us be citizens not spectators. If we believe we are okay and so we don’t care about them, let’s ask God if we are right. Let’s wait till there is a public uprising and we shall see how these guys will attack us for not taking care of them in the past. Send me an email if you would like to contribute to such a good cause to care for the street guys in Ghana.


Richard Nii Amarh

31st Jan, 2017

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