Today I'm Touched! Why Should Children Be Made To Bear The Consequences Of Adult Irresponsibility?

Can't we have laws that enforce family planning and restrict number of children a couple can produce? Can't we have sanctions that specify one's ability to engage in polygamy by his income? Who will even monitor these? Are we happy with how people marry "by heart" and procreate same way? Who was surprised by what the French president said about Africans and population growth?

As a typical Zongo boy, i have come into contact with a lot of "irresponsible" parenting and it baffles me whether all the practices in religion are to be accepted despite the declining relevance to the society we live in currently. I still find it incomprehensible the reason we expect to use all principles that worked for our grandfathers and expect all to work for us.

Our grandfathers mainly were farmers and those who married many had lands to farm and had the family as cheaper source of labour. Now things have changed and the land itself is scarce .Why then have a lot of wives because religion permits it than doing a critical logical reasoning to ascertain its pros and cons to make an informed decision.

I Happened to be at my mum's store this morning as i do every morning before she takes over and i go to work. A woman came to buy three pencils on credit because her children were starting exams today. Those pencils cost just 60 pesewas and i could tell from her face that she didnt have the money. Of course i knew her and had been advising her to seek family planning but she says her religion doesn't agree to that. I live in an area dominated by Muslims but she isnt a muslim. She belongs to a section of Christianity.

Her church does encourage polygamy because there is a portion of the Bible that says be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1 vrs 22). So i asked her if she thinks being fruitful is about giving birth. My problem is this; she has six children, the oldest being 9 years and the youngest being 11 months. Three of the kids attend Islamic primary and nursery whilst the Young ones (3 of them) stay at home always as the mother go to farm Everyday. The young children are cared for by her 4th child who is 5 years now and a few months and by 5 pm the children look very weak and starved ( For their appetite and consumption level , i will talk about it someday) and their mum is not back from farm.

My problem is this, the husband visits once every two months and doesn't stay up to 5 days because he also takes care of someone's cocoa farm in western region. I believe she is the only wife but my problem is why subject these children to this kind of torture.

With this foundation, how many will grow to become "responsible" adults, not towing the same line as their parents? To cut it short, i gave her 2 pencils and 2 erasers for each child and a sharpener to be used by all the three. In my head i was imagining what they write with when its not exams time and what will they even write?

In this same area is a muslim man who has 6 children with is first wife ( a set of twins included) and the first son is around 11 years and in class 2. He also has a second wife with 2 daughters the oldest around 4 years and just about 3 weeks ago he married a third wife. My question is what are the authorities doing about these things? Should we continue to look at these with religious lenses and ignore the logic and economic implications?

The man in question is a yam farmer and in his late thirties to early forties. Who do we blame for such practices ; religion? illiteracy? government? religious leaders? One thing i have observed about rich folks in this area is that they also pride themselves with having many wives and kids which the poor also copy wrongly. Can we therefore blame the rich for this menace?

One thing i know is that life doesn't begin at 30 or any year. It begins the moment you are conceived. If you get deformed by any of the birth processes or even during pregnancy, you get to live with it for life. By this logic why wont the Akuffo Addos and Mahamas and Rawlings be forever leading with some of us as followers. Politicians will still come down to manipulate them with few cedi notes to vote for them and will yield so much influence in politics because of the family size.

I read an article recently about how the Emir of Kano in Nigeria has enacted a law that bars polygamy in Kano unless they can clearly define your source of income and link it up to your family size and still see alowance for emergency funding. Can leaders in Ghana also enact auch laws. After reading the article, i saw the comments and criticism and they were mostly religion bias.

What has religion done to us? Has it made us bitter or better?I knew the Emir will be severely criticized by even his kinsmen and cabinet because most will be affected negatively. But is it not the right way to go? I heard someone say "transition occurs when humans see change not as a voluntary but when its is seen as mandatory" .

To control this , very radical measures need to be taken by our politicians and religious leaders to reduce polygamy and increase use of family planning services some of which are virtually free. If such a bill goes before parliament, I can guarantee most MPs will vote against it because some will be victimised by the law that will be made from it.

I believe the problem with youth unempleyment and all this galamsey menace stems from populations which are increasing beyond the land's ability to sustain us. It has gotten to a place where we need change and this change can only start with me and you. Let us tackle excess population growth and make Ghana a better place to live.