Pupils under 18 banned from wake-keeping and video shows

The Akuapem South District Assembly has banned pupils and children under 18 years from attending social events such as video shows and wake-keeping in the night.

Mr Andrew Yaw Nyarko-Adu, District Chief Executive, announced this at a durbar of the chiefs and people of Pakro and its surrounding villages near Nsawam, which was also attended by the MP, Mr Seth Wiafe Danquah.

The durbar was to climax a familiarisation tour of the district by the DCE and the MP. Mr Nyarko-Adu said information from assembly members indicated that if the assembly did not take the decision now, "in five years the children in the area would fail their examinations and would become useless".

He said some school children took advantage of such events in the night to involve in anti social vices, which accounted for the high rate of teenage pregnancies in the area. Mr Danquah said an urgent appeal would be made to the Minister of Energy to take steps to install more electricity transformers in the town to facilitate the establishment of small-scale cottage industries.

He congratulated Nana Offei Mensah II, Gyasehene of Pakro, for installing three streetlights in the town and providing a public address system. Nana Yaw Kese II, Chief of Pakro and Chairman of the School Management Committee, commended the DCE and MP for the visit, saying: "this is the government we want, a government that has time for the rural folks".