A GNA feature by Albert Oppong-Ansah
Tamale, Dec. 13, GNA – At exactly 0700GMT in Tamale, capital of the Northern Region, mothers with twin and triplets babies follow a long held belief by locating at the central market to do the business they know how to do best- begging for alms.
It may be a strange belief but people still practice it. In some communities in Northern Ghana, especially Bomahe community, Tolon and Tamale metropolis twins, triplets and quadruplets are considered as lesser gods so in order to ensure their survival, soothsayers asked their mothers to engage in begging. Mothers with such babies believe that if they do not turn into beggars, their children will die.
Most of these babies sit with their mothers in tattered clothes and most often houseflies hover around their mouths.
The kids are also identified by their unkempt hair and pale looks and are likely to be spotted at insanitary places.
Amina Salifu, 28 with one- year old twins, Abiba and Sakina, was approached by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) for an interview.
Initially Amina turned down the request to explain why she and her children were on the streets begging but later agreed to talk.
“My children fell sick soon after birth. They would not recover after administering medication from the hospital. We then decided to send them to a native doctor who could not help. My husband’s relatives therefore directed that I take to begging to save the lives of my children.
“Initially I refused but after a while a spiritualist told me that I have no choice but to go out there and comply with the instructions of my in-laws; I did so and after some time, my children got well,” she said.
Twins in the Region have become victims of traditional belief when UNICEF says exploiting a child for economic gain by way of begging constitutes child exploitation.
Whilst the global body is against the exploitation and abuse of any child yet millions of children worldwide from all socio-economic backgrounds, across all ages, religions and cultures suffer exploitation with countries like Nigeria, Niger, India, Senegal and Sudan found to be very culpable of the offence.
The number of women using their children as an excuse to beg is alarming as currently 3,500 twins and their mothers have been registered under the National Health Insurance Scheme by Savanna Twins, a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
“Begging is just a subset of using children to beg in many developing countries,” says Mr Alhassan Kpabia, Director of the NGO.
He told the GNA that his outfit records a maximum of 100 mothers and children from Tamale and its environs daily with most of them identified as orphans.
Zangbalum- Bomahe Naa Alhassan Issahaku Amadu, Regional Director of National Population Council described the traditional belief that allows mothers of twins to beg as fake.
He explained that soothsayers often gave such instructions to enable them gain popularity and wealth through the consultation fees and items they often took from their clients seeking spiritual favour for employment, visa, and prosperity among other requests.
Such people are often directed by the soothsayers to give alms to mothers of twins and other beggars before their wish would be fulfilled.
The practice has its toll on the children as explained by Dr Anthony Amankwah Amponsem, a Paediatric Consultant at Tamale Teaching Hospital, who said the exposure of babies to all forms of weather conditions could result in the contraction of diseases such as meningitis, malaria, hepatitis and typhoid fever.
Zangbalum- Bomahe Naa Amadu agreed to Dr Amponsem assertion, adding that when children were not fed well they regularly fell sick and became malnourished.
“Husbands are supposed to work extra to feed the extra mouth but most of them shy away from their responsibilities,” he said.
He questioned why only women are asked to beg with the children while their husbands idle about.
The practice is also against the law, Chief Inspector Lawrence Adombire, Tamale Metro Coordinator of Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of Ghana Police Service said, warning that the act of begging constitute a criminal act, according to the Beggars and Destitute Act 1969 (NLCD 392).
He said Section 87 (a) and (b) of the Children’s Act of 1998 (Act 560) confirmed the prohibition of the use of children for any exploitative labour, which deprives them of their rights to basic health, education and social development.
Chief Inspector Adombire said the Unit was not aware of the growing numbers of babies and their mother on the streets but his outfit could not enforce the law due to lack of logistics.
On the religious perspective, Sheikh Abubakar Tanko Issahaq told GNA that the Islamic Religion preaches against the use of children for begging adding that it was a sign of laziness on the part of their parents.
He said the religion only encourage members to give alms to individuals who were weak and sick as mandated by the Holy Quran and called on the police to flush out the beggars off the streets.
Mr John Ankrah, Regional Director of the Department of Social Welfare also told the GNA that the Department had not been able to deal with the issue due to logistics and other challenges.
“Before we can solve the problem we need a facility to keep the rescued children as well foster parents to adopt them as it is done in some countries,” he clarified.
Way forward
Last year the then Vice President John Dramani Mahama, now the Head of State said the poorest woman in the country was likely to come from the Northern Region.
The 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey also confirmed that 74.1 per cent of female students in the Region could not read at all, with only 0.7 per cent able to read a whole sentence, while 1.4 per cent could partially read a sentence.
Clearly there are more women in the Region who have little or no education so there is the urgent need to develop women empowerment programmes to equip them with employable skills to help reverse the practice.
It could also be entrepreneurial skills that would enable them to be self reliant and generate income to cater for their children as requested by Ms Madhirima 24, a resident of Hyderabad, India who also begs with her one year- old baby.
The security agencies should be resourced and empowered to arrest and prosecute fathers who neglect their paternal responsibilities. After all let us not forget that Ghana is a signatory to many international treaties to protect children.
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