Enough of oil - How about resource on the streets?

Enough of the gushing and blushing over the Ghanaian victory in the maritime boundary dispute between Ghana and La Côte d’Ivoire. I have heard some talk of taking active steps to negotiate and delimit our boundaries with Togo and so on.

That is all well and good. But while we are at it, we need to remind ourselves that we still have a lot of resource battles to fight.

And the most important of these battles has to do with the boys and girls who for one reason or the other have found themselves on the street.

Take a moment. Drive late at night in Accra. At about 11pm over 12 pm. And guess who you are likely to find on the street. Boys. Girls. These young ones can be found doing a variety of things.

They are either begging; or offering to clean your windscreen or selling gum or sweets. It is not only at night. Look around traffic in the mornings. You find children of school age being held hostage in broad day light by their blind and disabled relatives. And we are all looking on.

The invasion of the street by these children at such late hours should be a cause for concern.

Remember, human beings are the most important resource on the face of the earth. And that is the reason we should stop gushing about oil and all the prospects it provides; and redirect our energies towards getting as many children as possible out of the roads.

These children, like all other children, deserve a good life. And we must find a way of making that happen with or without parental support and presence.

There are lots of countries without an ounce of our resource wealth; and yet they are doing well. They are leading in terms of intellectual property and innovation.

Mindsets and education alone have transformed landlocked countries and arid landscapes into financial hubs and food baskets.

Someone has to speak for these kids. And I think it should be fair to say we have not done enough. I would not be the first person to talk about child streetism in Ghana. And hopefully I would not be the last.

In writing this piece, I did some google searches. A lot of writing and commenting has been done on this. I am just wondering if it is worth writing more. What we need is some form of action.

The future of this nation cannot and should not be allowed to be on the street. This is not right and fair.

The state has an obligation towards its children. The constitution places the obligation to ensure the well being of children on their parents, the legislature and the executive

The presence of the children clearly indicates a failure of the social system.

The Constitution places the responsibility on the Parliament of Ghana to pass laws to ensure that children and young persons receive special protection against exposure to physical and moral hazards.

The Constitution also requires the protection and advancement of the family as the unit of society all in the bid of promoting the interest of children.

As if it is not enough, the Constitution provides that every child has the right to be protected from engaging in work that constitutes a threat to his health, education or development.

Children are not supposed to be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The Children’s Act further provides that no person shall deprive a child access to education, immunization, adequate diet, clothing, shelter, medical attention or any other thing required for his development.

I need not say much to prove how helpless our authorities and the state have been in the face of these flagrant and evil treatment being meted out to the young ones.

Yes, it is true that parental responsibility has failed. But so also has the state. If we had a solid state and social welfare system (as we are supposed to), these children will at the very least have an opportunity to decent life. But no. They are definitely not our priority. And we are wasting their sweet and precious lives away.

It cannot be business as usual. There is no moral, social or intellectual justification for the presence of these young ones on the road. Heaven knows the risks and dangers that they have to live up with on a daily basis.

And if we wouldn’t want that for ourselves and our children, why should we for a moment stand by and watch that happen to others.

We can do better than we are doing right now. The future of this country is literally wasting away on the streets. How long can we look on?

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