The Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection, has pleaded with Ghanaians to refrain from giving money to children beggars on the street.

Lariba Zuweira Abudu says kids are continually encouraged to remain on the streets since many Ghanaians do not hesitate to give them money.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, June 4, 2023, noted that some people skip school or leave their homes in an effort to increase their income.

“Why should we give a child of school-going age money? It’s business as usual. If a child is six years and he’s begging, why do we give the child money?” she quizzed.

“If you don’t give today, I don’t give tomorrow, somebody doesn’t give in one week, and they don’t get it, they will go back to school. So it’s the culture, our culture of the way we give to these minors, that’s why they are on the street,” the Gender, Children, and Social Protection Minister said.

According to Madam Lariba Zuweira Abudu, if Ghanaians as a whole made sure that they did not constantly give money to kids, it would work to deter them from loitering on the streets.

Regarding the issue of foreigners loitering on Ghana’s streets, she said that the Gender Ministry is coordinating with the embassies of those nations to have them returned.

She disclosed that although some of them managed to return to Ghana, roughly 400 of them were eventually deported back.

The process is being hampered, she continued, because some embassies lack the logistical means to send some of their personnel home.