CRI: 60% Of Beggars In Ghana Are Foreigners
At least 60% of beggars on the streets of Ghana are foreigners, the executive director of Child Rights International, Bright Appiah has said.
Speaking on The Asaase Breakfast Show monitored by wontumionline.com, Appiah called on the authorities to arrest those recruiting and trafficking children to use as tools to beg on the streets.
“I can say on authority that 60% of people who beg on our streets are foreigners and our findings also point to the fact that not all of them who beg on the streets are not in school.
“Majority of them are in school, but what they do is that when they are on vacation in their respective countries, they come to Ghana to engage in that kind of activity, so on that score I feel that it is a trade, something that is intentionally done to gain some kind of economic support,” Appiah said.
He added: “And once it becomes a trade, then you should know that there are a number of people who are engaged in the process, you cannot just say that the children and their parents alone will come and go. It means there is a supply chain in the engagement of such act.”
Appiah further called on the Ghana Immigration Service to step up efforts in clamping down on the activities of persons behind such act.
Street children are security threat
Meanwhile, in an earlier interview Appiah called on the government to collaborate with the various embassies in Ghana to evacuate the growing number of foreign street children.
Appiah’s call comes as Ghana joins the rest of the world to commemorate international day for street children on 12 April on the theme “safe spaces”.
The day is set aside to provide opportunity for civil society organisations to spread awareness on the number of street children globally.
“We have a number of children begging on the streets and from different environment all together. There are foreigners in here, there are people who are also indigenes and then there are some that are also indigenes but on medical purpose that they use to beg on the street,” Appiah said.
“And for me if our safety net is not that strong to deal with the matter, then we expect that the government will have engagement with the embassies, so that they can get these foreigners back to their various countries on the principle of diplomacy, so that they can go back,” he told Kwaku Nhyira-Addo.
“Some of them are on the streets, not that they have lost their homes, but they feel that the environment is comfortable for them.”
Appiah also called for enforcement of laws to ensure parents whose children end up on the streets are penalised.
“There are also citizens who beg on the streets and for me it is clearly based on irresponsibility on the part of parents and the enforcement of the laws. So, we also need to ensure that those who infringe on the law are punished,” Appiah said.