Osu Children's Home land not for sale — Gender Ministry
The Osu Children's Home (OCH) land in Accra has not been leased or sold to any private investor, the Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP), Mrs Della Sowah, has told Parliament.
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Responding to questions on the issue posed by Parliament to the ministry on Wednesday, as to whether it had leased or sold the Osu Children's Home (OCH) land in Accra to private investors, Mrs Sowah said the ministry did not intend to lease or sell the land of the OCH.
The MP for Atwima Nwabiagya North, Mr Benito Owusu-Bio, who set the tone for the questions, wanted to know the details of the lease or sale agreement if any.
Private investor agreement
Mrs Sowah said the MGCSP received a letter dated December 18, 2014 from CADS Contracts and Services Limited drawing the ministry's attention to an agreement with the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations dated November 29, 2012.
She said the company requested for a meeting to discuss a proposal for the relocation of the OCH.
Mrs Sowah said the MGCSP responded per a letter dated January 7, 2015, that it did not know about the agreement as it did not feature in any discussions on the separation of the Department of Social Welfare from the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations which supervised the OCH.
"We opined further that this matter was not included in the transfer of responsibilities to the ministry when the Department of Social Welfare was being separated from the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.
"That it had not featured in any discussions of the ministry. That the ministry owes no contractual obligations and does not intend to pursue the agreement," she said.
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Mrs Sowah said the ministry further informed CADS Contracts that it did not intend to embark on the contract.
She said the ministry did not want to embark on any relocation project "simply because it did not see the project as one which will promote the best interest of the children of the OCH with regard to their protection and overall development".
No records of agreement
Mrs Sowah told parliament that she only heard of the agreement between the company and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations but she did not cite the agreement document.
Again, she said there were no records to show that the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources had responded to the request by the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations to lease the landed property at the OCH when the issue of the agreement was referred to it.
"We have since not heard anything from CADS Contracts and neither has the ministry engaged any private investors in any discussion on the lands of the OCH," she said.
When it was started
Started in 1949 by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) known as Child Care Society, the Osu Children's Home is a community for orphaned, abandoned and needy children from ages zero to 18.
It was then located on the premises of the present Cripples Home at Kaneshie, a suburb of Accra, and moved by the government of its present location in March 1960, after it took over its administration.
Most children of schoolage in the home attend schools in the neighbourhood. This is to afford them the opportunity of meeting and interacting with other children. The home has an early childhood development centre that caters for those of pre-school age and prepares them for basic school.
Children are referred to the home by hospitals, the courts, the police and social work agencies. In order for a child to be admitted to the home, it should satisfy itself that there is a medical report that confirms that the child is fit to live with other children, a report to state how the child was found and efforts the agency has made to trace parents/relations. This is to help ascertain that institutionalisation had been considered as a last resort.
The children live in four separate Home Units. One is a nursery unit which houses babies zero to two years. Three other units house children three years and above. Each of these units has a head that lives in the home unit with two subordinate staff.