The Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs in collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare is to undertake a re-registration of Orphanages in Ghana in a bid to eliminating unlicensed ones from the system.
Deputy Minister in–charge of the ministry, Hajia Gariba Boya tells Asempa News the ministry was alarmed by news of orphanages being used as transit points for child trafficking and the massive abuses which occur in some orphanages.
In less than a year, reports of massive abuses and crimes at some private and state-owned orphanages rocked the country.
Child to child abuse at the Peace and Love Orphanage, massive child abuse by caregivers at the Osu Children’s Home and the use of Hohoe Christian Orphanage as transit point for child trafficking are a few of many.
Orphanaid Africa, an NGO, has already called on government to abolish orphanages and resort to foster homes and other means of taking care of orphanages.
But the Deputy Minister said the ministry is now aggressive on the orphanages and have intensified their campaign to weed out the fake ones.She said the ministry is woefully under resourced and called for support in achieving that aim.
Touching on the provisional results released by the Ghana Statistical Service on the 2010 housing and population census, Hajia Gariba noted that now that it has become clear that the women are more than men, women should take advantage of it and be more active in national leadership.
Story by: Afia Amankwah Tamakloe/Asempa FM/Ghana