Migrants in the country who use their children to beg for alms on the streets will be deported, the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) has said.
This is to protect and secure the right of children who are being used for commercial purposes on the streets of Accra.
The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Ms Cecilia Dapaah, who is the Caretaker Minister of MoGCSP, said this at a street monitoring exercise on some selected streets within the Ayawaso West Municipality.
The exercise, which formed part of the Ministry’s project dubbed: ‘Street Connected Children Project’ resolved to rid major roads of the capital city of child beggars who could have been in school.
The exercise was conducted together with the Ayawaso West Municipal Chief Executive and some Directors and staff of the Department of Social Welfare.
It was done at Okponglo, Opeibea and 37 in the Ayawaso West Municipality where the practice was common.
Ms Dapaah said that using children to beg for alms was against the laws of the country and expressed the Ministry’s commitment to collaborate with the Ministry of Foreign affairs and some embassies to deport migrants who fail to comply with the laws.
“The children are too young to be used for commercial purposes. They are between the ages of two to 10 years and are often seen crossing roads to beg for alms. The adults among them should make use of the markets if they seek to conduct business or they will be deported,” she said.
Ms Dapaah said the exercise was just the first of many to come, stressing that “there will be further stakeholder engagements to derive better intervention to deal with the menace.”
She added that the Ghana Immigration Service would be included in the next exercise.
During the exercise, Ghanaian Times observed that the migrants had heaped rubbish on pavements on some streets on which they slept.
Due to the act, Ms Dapaah sacked them from the streets and advised them to observe the country’s sanitation laws and also advised them against abusing the right of the children.