Mirror Lawyer : Can city authorities clear beggars off the streets?
Dear Mirror Lawyer, I have noticed quite recently that all sorts of beggars and the destitute have flooded the streets and in particular traffic lights at the cities.
They are most of the time a nuisance, creating disruption in the traffic flow and accident risk for motorists. Is there nothing the city authorities can do to clear these people off the streets?
Stanley Allotey-Pappoe, Osu, Accra
Dear Allotey-Pappoe, Begging is the practice of harassing others to grant a favour, often a gift of money, with little or no expectation of giving something else in return.
Beggars may be found in public places such as transport routes, urban parks, and near busy markets. Besides money, they may also ask for food, drink or other small items.
A destitute is a person who is homeless, without means of subsistence and lives by asking for money or food.
In Ghana, we have a law which regulates the activities of such beggars and the destitute. This is the Beggars and Destitutes Act, 1969, NLCD 392.
Under that law, any person found begging and any person wandering or placing himself in any premises or place for the purpose of begging may be arrested by a police officer without warrant and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding GH¢50 or to imprisonment not exceeding three months or to both.
However, a magistrate before whom any person arrested is brought may order any officer of the Department of Social Welfare to investigate and make a report to him after which he may issue summons requiring any relative of the offender to appear before him, and may, if he is satisfied that the case may best be so dealt with, commit the offender to the care of a relative or other fit person who is willing to undertake the care of him.
The law provides two exceptions. The first is the law exempts soliciting or receiving alms in accordance with a religious custom or the custom of a community or for a public charitable purpose or organised entertainment.
The second is the law exempts any juvenile or collector duly authorised under the provisions of the Public Collections Act, 1961 (Act 59) or to any collection or person to which or to whom section five of that Act applies.
However, the law imposes liability on other persons who are not directly involved in but encourage begging.
The law says any person who permits or encourages another person to commit an offence involving begging may be arrested by a police officer without warrant, and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding GH¢50 or to imprisonment not exceeding three months or to both.
The law also deals with the destitute. It says any person found wandering and unable to show that he has any settled place of abode or any employment or visible and sufficient means of subsistence, and anyone found neglected or abandoned shall be deemed to be a destitute.
Any police officer may require a person who is apparently a destitute to accompany him to appear before a magistrate, and may take such a person to a police station or institution and the person may be there detained for not more than 24 hours or until it is practicable to appear before a magistrate, whichever is the shorter period.
Any person who is apparently a destitute and who refuses or fails to accompany a police officer or to appear before a magistrate when required to do so may be arrested by a police officer without warrant, and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of GH¢10 or in default to imprisonment not exceeding one month.
If after any such inquiry the magistrate is satisfied that the person brought before him is a destitute, he may if he thinks fit declare that person to be a destitute and may either order any relative or other fit person of that person to take him under his care; or order the person to reside in a suitable institution for such period as he thinks fit.
The law quoted above is an example of the bane of this country. We have all the beautiful laws on paper but when it comes to enforcement we are found wanting.
These beggars and the destitute are all over the streets and other monuments in the country in the full glare of the police.
Regrettably, the law enforcement agencies are unable to allow the law to work. So there is something permitted by law that can be done. The ball is in the hands of the authorities.
