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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