Stop giving money to street children - Gender minister orders public

- Gender minister says she is resolved to address streetism in Ghana

- The general public is being asked to stop giving alms to these children

Government through the gender ministry says it remains committed to getting children off the streets in its ongoing "operation get off the street" program.

Stop giving money to street children - Gender minister orders public

Sector minister, Otiko Djaba, is, therefore, entreating the general public to stop giving alms to children on the streets so as to get these vulnerable children off the streets.

Streetism in Ghana, according to a UNICEF report, has doubled over the past years with over 100,000 children across the country either begging for alms or selling at high-risk areas that pose them to threats of abuse and kidnapping.

Speaking at a stakeholders meeting in Accra, Otiko Djaba says getting children off the streets is a step in opening economic support and protection of them.

"Stop giving street children and beggars money. If you do not give them it will discourage them and they will not come back," she said.

The ministry is currently urging parents and guardians to secure the future of their children and rather not view the streets as an income-earning source, adding that the ministry would also empower the families from which the children came from with the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) and other social interventions.