Michael Boateng
19 June 2009
"Give Girls a Chance: End Child labour", was the theme for this year's celebration of the World Against Child Labour Day, which fell on Friday June 12, with emphasis on ending child labour, and the Brong-Ahafo File was depressed after observing children below the ages of three, being exposed to danger at a Gari Processing Factory located on the Sunyani-Techiman road, just after a town called Nsuta, in the Techiman Municipality.
The kids, some of who were of school-going age, were exposed to the pungent smoke and heat from the fire, as well as the bad odour that had engulfed the factory.
The ones who were bit older, were used as caretakers of the younger ones, to allow their mothers have full concentration on the job.
To mark the celebration, the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Mr. Stephen Kwao Amoanor, was reported to have announced that his ministry was finalizsing a seven-year national plan of action, to eliminate all the worst forms of child labour in the country by 2015.
The Minister's announcement though a welcome one was not new, considering the Children's Act of 1998, and the numerous international conventions on child welfare, of which the country is signatory.
Several of these policies have been announced, but little has been done or seen about its implementation, however, Ghana has made some significant strides in dealing with the issue of child labour and child safety.
The Brong-Ahafo File's observation, during the voyage to the gari factory, was very pathetic and a test case for the Ministry, considering the health risk to the children, though the said children were not actively engaged in the work of their parents.
The B/A File had the impression that despite the fight against child labour, less is heard of child safety, because after asking some of the women whether they knew that they were engaging their children in child labour, the explanation was that their children were not taking part in the gari processing, but were keeping watch on their siblings.
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"Can't you see, they were just playing among themselves, and it is the money we get from the work that is used to cater for them, so there is nothing wrong," a woman said.
The B/A File recognises the cultural and socio-economic factors like puberty, lack of educational infrastructure among others, but parents must not hide behind these factors to ruin the future of their children by exposing them to dangerous environments.
Parents must still play their responsible roles to secure a future for their children.
It would be prudent for the organisations in-charge of ensuring children's safety in the region to visit the gari processing factor at Techiman Nsuta, to assist in rescuing those innocent children from the dangers they were being exposed to by the work of their parents.
Source:allAfrica
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