Fathers urged not hide under matrilineal inheritance to shirk responsibility

Ekumfi Twa (C/R), July 26, GNA - The Mankessim Programme Area Manager of Plan Ghana, an international humanitarian and child-centred development organization, Mr Jacob Turkson, has called on communities practicing matrilineal inheritance not to make the system to become an impediment to the welfare of the child. Mr Turkson noted with concern that some people, particularly fathers, were shirking their responsibilities for the maintenance of their children, holding the notion that the children belonged to the maternal family. He made the call at an open day celebration of Twa-Etuakwa and Twa Dunkwa Municipal Assembly Primary and Junior High Schools at Ekumfi Twa in the Mfantseman Municipality of the Central Region.

Plan Ghana sponsored the celebration which was the first ever to be celebrated by the schools since their establishment in 1961 and 1987 respectively. Mr Turkson held that the matrilineal inheritance system was hampering children's education because fathers were not willing to contribute to the payment of school fees. He urged traditional rulers and district assemblies to enact bye-laws to protect children from the abuse. Mr Turkson advised children to take advantage of Plan Ghana's Scholarship Scheme to learn hard so as to become beneficiaries.

Nana Baah IV, Chief of Twa and Acting President of the Ekumfi Traditional Area, expressed gratitude to Plan Ghana for the material and financial support it had provided to education in the community, which included construction of a block of six classrooms for the primary school. He appealed to parents to invest in their children's education for a better future. Mr James Okine, Headteacher of the primary school appealed to the Municipal Assembly to re-roof the kindergarten building which was ripped off by storm in March this year. Mr Dodzi Afetsi, Headmaster of the Junior High School appealed to the Municipal Directorate of Education to post additional teachers to the schools.