‘3 babies’ policy not solution to dev’t – Adutwum

Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has said he disagrees with a call by the National Population Council for the enforcement of the ‘three-babies-per-family’ policy meant to control population growth.

According to the National Population Policy, the main targets for the population policy were to reduce the total fertility rate from 5.5 to 5.0 by the year 2000, 4.0 by 2010 and 3.0 by 2020.

The council is also proposing that severe sanctions be imposed on couples who will exceed the stipulated three babies.

The Executive Director for the NPC, Dr Leticia Adelaide Appiah, has warned that the current annual growth rate of 2.5 per cent posed a threat to national development.

She, therefore, asked the government to review and synchronise the free maternal health policy with the target of the total fertility rate, which advocated three children for every family.

Dr Appiah said couples must be made to bear the social cost of every child outside the stipulated three.

The tax payer, she said, “must not be made to bear the cost of additional children by families who exceed the three children. No, it should not be a burden on the state and so we must review our social intervention programmes to reflect this policy.”

Reacting to this call on the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class91.3FM on Wednesday, 25 July 2018, Dr Adutwum said: “I’ll not support the call because we live in a country where for 26 years where there was no check on how many children you’ll have, still the economy is the most robust