Emancipation Day held at Atimpoku

Atimpoku (ER), July 22, GNA- Speakers at a ceremony to commemorate this year's Emancipation day, by the people of the Akwamu State in the Eastern Region, have stressed the need for a determined endeavour to eradicate poverty and destitution, which they said were modern manifestations of slavery. They contended that the blight of poverty and its attendant consequences on the health and the educational needs of the people, particularly children, constituted the greatest challenges facing the Ghanaian, which is comparable to efforts that resulted in removing the yoke of slavery.

Emancipation day, celebrates the abolition of chattel slavery affecting people of black descent between the fifteen and nineteenth centuries, and Ghana has since 1998 being celebrating the event to draw the citizenry's attention to the scourge and how to prevent any future recurrence.

Mr Kofi Osei Ameyaw, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Diasporan Relations, at a durbar to mark the occasion at Atimpoku on Monday, said some young children are suffering from modern manifestations of slavery. "These children, some as young as five years are removed from their homes and taken to distant places where they work for little or no pay", he said, and articulated the need for Ghanaians to reflect on the evils of forced labour and refrain from it.

Mr Ameyaw described as "totally unacceptable", that some parents, under the guise of being poor have in the past "sold their children into compulsory labour", and as a result "denied them education and good health", and have forced them to work for little or no pay". He reiterated the eagerness of the state to fight crimes especially by families who condone with criminals to attempt to curtail the liberties of individuals.

Nana Okru Kata, a Divisional Chief, who spoke on behalf of the Akwamu State, stated the need to wage a frontal attack on all social issues that constituted a hindrance on the development of the people. According to Nana Okru Kata, "the current forms of slavery in Ghana are poverty, disease, sanitation" and called for the support of all to find solutions to the problem.

He also called for the support of black in the Diaspora to bring back their skills and experiences acquired in the New World to help push the development agenda of their kinsmen in Africa forward. 22 July 08