Enact laws to regulate gambling – Ntim Fordjour

Assin South MP Reverend John Ntim Fordjour has called for stringent laws to streamline the activities of betting companies in the country.

His call comes on the heels of an upsurge in activities of the gambling centres dotted across the country.

Rev Fordjour, speaking to Class News’ parliamentary correspondent Ekow Annan after reading a statement on the floor of parliament on Thursday 16 March, noted that betting was destructive to Ghana’s societal values.

“One other dimension that is very scary about this is that the advanced jurisdictions, from which these commercial gambling facilities emanate, have dedicated facilities to manage gambling-related disorders, psychological disorders. But here is a country [where] we are even struggling to run effectively our existing mental facilities, and so how then do we put in the needed intervention to curb this emerging trend? So, I’m of the view that as a country we are not resilient enough, we don’t have the capacity to contain these great ramifications and hazards that this trend potentially poses,” he stated.

“The Speaker of parliament has admitted that parliament, in line with article 108, take up the amendment of relevant provisions to ensure that this menace is addressed… Yes, [gambling] is destructive to our societal values and something has to be done about it.”