NCCE Sensitises Pokuase On Effects Of Child Labour

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has organised an awareness programme at Pokuase in the Ga West Municipal to sensitise the public on child labour.

In her welcome address, the Municipal Director of NCCE, Margaret Kodji, said that a child born in or out of wedlock, is entitled to proper parental care stressing “the child has the right to be educated and must be taken good care of by the parents but not to engage them in child labour activities.

“Send your children of school going age to school especially, the female child and stop using them in stone quarries, fishing vessels and selling ice water on the streets,” she said.

Mrs. Kodji used the platform to advise participants to ensure peaceful atmosphere during and after the election, saying, “If anything untoward happens, it is the women and our children who are going to suffer the most”.

Tetteh Quarshie, who stood in for the regional director of the Commission, said the Children's Act 1998, which sought to reform and consolidate the law relating to children, was clear on the development of children in the country but had sometimes been abused by some wards and parents.

He said the effort to provide for the maintenance and adoption of the child should not be undermined noting “every child has the right to life, dignity, respect and shelter from parents.

“Each parent shall be responsible for the registration of birth of his/her child and the name of both parents shall appear on the birth certificate.”

He urged parents to fight off neglect, discrimination, physical abuses of children and provide them with good guidance, proper care and maintenance.

The presiding member of the Ga West Municipal Assembly and member for the Pokuase Electoral Area, Daniel Nii Darku Dodoo, who chaired the occasion, said the assembly, in conjunction with the chiefs and elders, would soon come out with bye-laws to check some of the issues raised and commended the NCCE for its educational programmes in the area.

Meanwhile, the assembly as part of efforts to strengthen its revenue generation base, has organised a stakeholders meeting to deepen the relationship between it and the business community in the area.

The meeting also provided a platform to deliberate on the fee fixing and strategies to achieve the projected revenue for 2008.

The Municipal Coordinating Director, Alex Berkoh, told participants that road rehabilitation, village electrification, provision of street lights, night patrol by security agencies, among others, were some of the expenses made out of the revenue mobilised.