49,000 Children in coastal areas engaged in child labour
More than 49,000 children living in the coastal areas of Ghana are said to be engaged in terrible child labour and trafficking, a research conducted by Challenging Heights, a non-governmental association promoting the welfare of children, has said.
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According to the report, majority of the children were between the ages of six and 15.
Speaking at the launch of the report in Accra yesterday, the President of Challenging Heights, Dr James Kofi Annan, called on the government to expand the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme to all coastal areas of Ghana.
He said the Effutu Municipality and the Awutu-Senya District should be some of the focal areas of such an expansion programme, “since poverty levels in these two coastal areas are extremely high”.
The report was on the theme: “Using LEAP to promote child protection in Ghana”.
Report revelations
The 30-page report revealed that since its implementation in 2008, LEAP has had positive effects on the well-being of less-privileged children.
It further showed that the advantages associated with the implementation of the programme could be increased if challenges such as the delay and the irregularities in payment were addressed promptly.
According to the report, LEAP beneficiaries most of the time had to wait for four months before they received their allowances.
It also raised issues with the accessibility of the programme and called for the removal of the cap restricting beneficiaries to four eligible members per household.
It said the removal would pave the way for all eligible household members across all the LEAP catchment areas in Ghana to benefit.
Government on course
The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, who launched the report, said the government was on course to addressing all the challenges associated with the LEAP programme.She said as part of the measures, beneficiaries of LEAP would, from July this year, receive GH¢44 a month in allowance.
Currently, LEAP beneficiaries receive a monthly allowance of GH¢24.
Nana Lithur said the programme, which started in 2008, was aimed at lessening the plight of orphans, persons in extremely poor households and the aged in society.
Currently, she said, about 90,000 households were benefiting from the programme across the country, while the government was planning to increase the number to 150,000 by September and to 200,000 by December 2015.