Day of the African Child observed with symposium

Panellists at a symposium in Accra to mark this year’s Day of the African Child have called for accelerated protection, empowerment and equal opportunities for children in the country.

According to them, challenges with the African child today constitute a social problem as children have been neglected for a long time leading to social vices and degeneration of values.

The symposium was organised by Compassion International, Ghana on the theme, “Accelerating protection, empowerment and equal opportunities for children”.

Three speakers discussed the theme with focus on the roles of the state, church and family.

The Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social protection, Ms Gifty Twum Ampofo, in an address to open the symposium, said Ghana had over the years shown good progress in providing a safe environment for the development of children by ensuring sound policy and legal environment.

She said although great strides had been made towards protecting and empowering children, there was still more work to be done, and identified one area that urgently required more attention as the justice system.

Role of the state

A Circuit Court Judge, Ms Abena Oppong Argine Doku, who represented the Justice of the Court of Appeal, Ms Justice Gertrude Torkonoo, spoke on the topic: “Accelerating protection, empowerment and equal opportunities for children - Role of the State.’

She said Ghana, in line with its international commitments and national obligations, had put in place a legal framework that would ensure the promotion and protection of children’s rights enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.

Ms Justice Torkonoo said out of the Constitution, several legislations, including the Children’s Act of 1998 (Act 560) and the Domestic Violence Act of 2007 (Act 732 and the Human Trafficking Act, 2005 (Act 694)) had been enacted to protect the welfare of children in the country.

Role of the church

The Vice Principal of the Methodist University College, Ghana (MUCG), Very Rev. Prof. Joseph Edusa-Eyison, who spoke on the topic ‘Accelerating protection, empowerment and equal opportunities for children - Role of the Church’ said the situation needed both moral and legal interventions.

He said the church was an important religious, moral and social institution which had a divine mandate to minister to both the physical and spiritual needs of humanity.

He enumerated some of the church’s roles to include the provision of educational infrastructure, shelter for the abused and vulnerable, economic empowerment and inculcation of good morals into the youth.

Role of the family

A Senior Lecturer of the University of Ghana, Prof. Mrs Olivia Frimpong Kwapong, who spoke on ‘Accelerating protection, empowerment and equal opportunities for children - The role of the family’, called on parents to prioritise their children’s welfare over their social activities.

She called on parents to have time for their children over their work and social activities, saying that was the only way they could inculcate home values and good morals in them.

She also called on parents to invest in the word of God for their children rather than looking for money to leave as inheritance for them.

According to her, due to parental neglect, children of today can not take initiatives, but they have rather cultivated the habit of demanding for everything they want, a situation which she said needed to be changed. She, therefore, called on parents to ensure that they balanced their work and care for their children to salvage the situation.

Writer's email:rebecca.quaicoe-duho@graphic.com.gh