Deal with harmful traditional practices – Minister

The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Albert Abongo, has appealed to traditional rulers to modify traditional practices, which undermine human dignity.

He made the appeal at the 10th Anniversary celebration of Afrikids, a child-focused NGO, which operates in the Upper East Region and parts of the Northern and Upper West Regions

The ceremony was at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.

The Regional noted that in spite of some appreciable gains made by some NGOs and other stakeholders, including Afrikids Ghana, against negative cultural practices in some communities in the Region, some of the age-old negative traditional practices persisted in most remote areas in the Region.

Some of the negative practices are Female Genital Mutilation, Killing of so-called spirit children and widowhood rites.

The Minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Bongo Constituency, said it was, therefore, important for stakeholders to work towards modifying or eliminating these practices. He commended Afrikids Ghana and its partners for working to abolish the phenomenon of killing disabled children, referred to as spirit children in some parts of the Kassena-Nankana West District.

“We all belong to societies, which have norms, customs and traditions that are valuable to us,” he said.

“However, since society is dynamic, we need to move with the times hence, the need to respond to change.

I want to plead with you as stakeholders, to change or modify traditions that infringe on laws of the country, especially those that affect the dignity of children, who are the future leaders of the country.”

The Minister also commended Afrikids Ghana for complementing the Government’s efforts in providing Education, Health and Livelihood Empowerment Support for women in the region.

He explained that as part of the government’s efforts to help protect children, it had with the support of UNICEF, developed a Child Protection Policy Document to be used as a working document by stakeholders to help address child abuse.

He said children were the future assets of the nation and impressed upon parents to assume full responsibility for the upbringing of their children and to strengthen the extended family system to avoid parental neglect and irresponsibility.

Recounting the success story of Afrikids after 10 years of its operation, the Country Director of Afrikids , Mr Nicholas Kumah, said the NGO had set up a Medical Centre in the Region to cater for the health needs of the people and a medical fund to support victims of critical and life threatening health conditions.

He said Afrikids would move from providing support to individuals and focus more on empowering local communities to undertake sustainable Agricultural practices and to improve the economic situation of women.

“We will be working with the Ghana Education Service and the Department of Social Welfare to ensure that children are protected,” he said.