Mr. George Yaw Ankamah, Deputy Director of Department of Children under the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs in Sunyani has expressed concern about the increasing rate of child trafficking in the country especially in the coastal areas.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency the deputy director noted that majority of the trafficked children ended up losing their lives whilst others suffered permanent disfigurement.
He said most parents were not aware that child trafficking was a criminal offence for which a perpetrator could be prosecuted and sentenced to pay a fine or five years imprisonment.
Mr Ankamah disclosed child inspection sub-committees had been set up in all districts in Brong Ahafo to help curtail all forms of child abuse, stating Techiman had been identified as a distribution point for human trafficking.
The situation becomes worse during vacation of schools when parents allow their young ones to work for money to pay their school fees when school reopens, he added.
The deputy director advised parents to critically examine the background of people they give their children to stay with in urban areas and also to know the type of work their children were going to do.
�The menace affects children�s personal development because some end their education as the people they go to work for can prevent them from continuing their education�, Mr Ankamah said.
Mr. Ankamah said the traffickers often deceived the children�s parents to believe they would give the children better living conditions and rather transferred them to other unknown people who would maltreat and let them work above their limits.
He entreated parents to engage in economic ventures that would enable them to take proper care of their children �since the best place for a child to live and grow up to become responsible citizens is the home with parents and siblings.
The deputy director called on parents to give birth to a number of children that they could take care of with their little resources.
Mr Ankamah said the Department, in collaboration with other agencies responsible for child rights, was working to ensure the demise of child trafficking in the country and that all Acts and polices protecting children were enforced.
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