Public Agenda NewsPaper Ghana's only Advocacy & Development Newspaper
I want to rant and ask why something cannot be done, if the so-called democracy we live in cannot give us a good life.
I want to rant like a mad woman and ask our government why children need to sell on the streets in order to fend for themselves.
I want to rant so my voice could be heard by the deaf government whose only goal is to stay in power and prove to the minority they have no power while they stay in opposition.
I want to rant because this is no poem but an article that seeks to find whom it may concern, so after reading this article something positive could be done about our falling country that has forgotten about humanity and thinking about gains for its individual members in power through corrupt means.
I am a Ghanaian girl with the heart of a fighter who hopes humanity gets what is good and better, researching on the different things why humans cannot live well in a developing country like Ghana. This Ghanaian girl wants to see things fall in place and see the betterment of humanity move from grade zero to at least 50.
For the betterment of humans, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were set and goal one talks about the eradication of poverty and hunger. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was said to have been halved in Ghana according to a report published in 2015.
Who were they lying to? Now; the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have arrived and we are still looking for a way to eradicate poverty completely, when the half they are claiming we have halved still is nowhere close to half?
Ghanaians wake up!
the report also claimed Ghana also made substantial progress in reducing the prevalence of HIV, increasing access to primary education for girls and boys equally, and also reducing hunger.
These were all contained in a release from the Office of the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations, which outlined the report on the implementation of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF).
I also believed in the news because I sat in my comfort zone and accepted these stories willingly until I travelled to the north and realised it was all a sham. If poverty is to be halved the first place anyone will need to look at are the three regions in the north, the Upper East, Upper West and the Northern Region; Tamale because they are the most deprived and poor regions in Ghana that need the attention of the government.
If you cannot feel positive impact in the three regions in the north, then it was all a lie to claim halving poverty as has been purported in 2015.
Some people in the north still walk bare footed in this time and era and we claim to have halved MDGs, people starve and sleep in broken mud houses and still the report of halving the MDGs came out.
Did whoever that wrote that report do a thorough check on his researchers before reading the report out? Was he not ashamed to read a lie? Of course not, because he sits in the office and expects researchers to bring him what is expected and not what is on the ground.
I went around Accra when I got back from the north in order to verify if I was being bias about what I witnessed in the north. That is seeing kids running around as though there was no hope and coming face to face with hungry and dying people who have not received any form of help from the government whatsoever.
It was late at night and I came face to face with what people will say “real life experience”. I had no phone or any recording device to document what I saw, it was the most painful thing I had to go through that instant aside the many experiences in the north.
Close to American House are lined up storey building used as shops and on the ground floor were three kids with the oldest being 13 or 14 years old and the youngest 9 years; fast asleep on the bare floor with no blankets. I teared and imagined my younger brother in their position.
I quietly observed the children as though I was trying to figure out why they were there but among the three kids; was one who was restless and looked sick. I rushed to the next provision shop and bought some snacks which I gave to the restless child. He was not restless for nothing but was hungry.
He expressed thanks and I figured the other kids might have slept hungry too so I woke them up and we had an interaction. They were very happy but their faces looked worn out.
During our interaction I got to know they were from Kumasi and had come to Accra in search for a job to survive. They did menial jobs like weeding people’s houses when in Accra there are no grasses anywhere to weed anymore sell sweets and yoghurt.
That made me wonder why kids would go through such pain to survive.
They also added they had to come all the way to Accra because that is where they were told they could easily make money and fend for themselves because their parents were not doing that, whether their parents knew where they were or not, I cannot tell.
Parents who cannot take care of babies when they are born do not have the right to give birth and if possible, a bill be passed into a law to arrest such parents. If children like these are born to such hardship they try to find the easy way out by turning into, thieves, armed robbers, ritualist, prostitutes among others.
We want a better Ghana full of vibrant youth with a positive goal for the nations development and not an adverse country with troubled youth who will torment and cause chaos leading to the detriment of the country.
Mr President, fellow Ghanaians and colleagues let us stand together and see to it that the right thing is done. Let us hammer on progress, let us hammer on prosperity and positivity for our people and end child labour now.
By Doreen Abanema Abayaa
