Child panel members upgrade skills
Ten Child Panel members have attended a day's training workshop organised by the Department of Social Welfare and the World Vision-Ghana at Effiduase in the Ashanti Region to equip them with skills required to mediate on matters affecting children.
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The workshop was also to enlighten them on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which places the child at the centre of issues affecting children and to equip them with skills for proper documentation of cases that are brought before them.
Topics treated
Topics treated at the workshop were definition of child, welfare principle, non-discrimination, right to name and nationality, right to education and well-being, parental duty and responsibility, and duties of panel members.
The Ashanti Regional Director in charge of Child Rights, Protection and Promotion at the Department of Social Welfare, Mr Kofi Adu, advised the panel members to take the training seriously and practise what they had learnt.
He said child development was crucial to the advancement of society and urged the panel members to work closely with the Social Welfare Department to promote development of children.
Before the workshop, the panel members were sworn in by the Sekyere East District Magistrate, Mr Jacob Amponsah, who charged them to work diligently to protect the right of the child at all times.
The District Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Mr John Ofori Attram, said the inauguration of the panel conformed to Section 27 of the Children's Act 1998 (Act 560), which states, “There shall be established in each district such number of Child Panels as the district assembly may consider necessary”.
Child delinquency
He noted that child delinquency resulting from parental neglect was on the ascendency and expressed the hope that the inauguration of the panel would help ease the workload on the family tribunal.
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He called on the district assembly to support the panel members financially and provide them with the necessary logistics to perform their duties efficiently and effectively.
He expressed gratitude to World Vision-Ghana, a child welfare organisation, for coming to their aid.
The District Co-ordinating Director, Mr Michael Owusu Amoako, who read a speech on behalf of the District Chief Executive, Mr Adjei Mensah, observed that the nation's future depended largely on the development of children and entreated the panel members to broaden their knowledge in their various fields of operations to promote the welfare of children.
Panel members
The 10-member panel comprises Mr James Atobra Boateng, the assembly’s Social Services subcommittee chairman; Mr Isaac Appau, Justice and Security subcommittee member; Mr John Ofori Attram, Secretary of the committee; Mr Richard Donkor, District Information Officer; and Nana Ohene Asiedu, a representative of the Effiduase Traditional Area.
The rest are Nana Sefa Kanto, a representative of the Asokore Traditional Area; Madam Christiana Adjei, Women's representative; Inspector Regina Owusu, Ghana Police Service representative; Mr Asare Danso, community representative; and Farouk Mohammed, a teacher.
Present at the ceremony were heads of departments and schoolchildren drawn from the various schools within the district.