Deal with streetism!
The issue of the number of homeless people living under the overpass at Kwame Nkrumah Interchange at Circle in Accra gradually soaring must be a concern to the government and its relevant agencies.
This is because the Circle interchange case is not the only one to contend with.
The issue of homelessness is brewing in the country’s urban centres and this must prompt the powers that be to plan how to tackle it.
That is to say there are causes of the problem.
One thing that is clear is that, from the The Ghanaian Times’s lay man’s point of view, there are three categories of people who have chosen to live on the street, at particular places like the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange.
These are normal people who have chosen to live on the street for various reasons; the mentally-ill, who find it difficult to cope with their feelings and thoughts such as those suffering from depression and schizophrenia; and those who are completely unable to think clearly or behave in a controlled way, especially because of mental illness, otherwise described as intellectually- disabled or challenged, those the Ghanaian public describe as mad.
It is now up to the authorities to isolate these people and see how to handle them.
Those who are normal but have chosen to live on the street can be handled more easily than the two categories.
However, their stories give a glimpse of accommodation problems in the country, which means the government must be serious with tackling the accommodation or housing deficit the country is facing.
Their stories also give some idea of the issue of lack of employment in the country, stemming from various factors like the economy not expanding or people lacking employable skills.
Whatever the case is, the government must not take anything for granted with regard to unemployment.
There is the urgent need for the government to tackle such problems because unemployment, for example, is a serious threat to national security.
One issue cropping up in the discussion about the homeless at Circle and, of course, others elsewhere across the country is the problem of begging, particularly in the sense that some of the beggars have the false sense of the right to compassion and so, they deserve to be given alms.
What is worrying is that begging is prohibited in the country, yet the authorities are just looking on unconcerned.
Was the Beggars and Destitute Act 1969 (NLCD 392) enacted for nothing?
The section 2(1) of this Act provides that any person found begging and any person wandering or placing himself in any premises or place for the purpose of begging may be arrested by a police officer without warrant and shall be liable on conviction to a fine.
Has this been expunged from the country’s statute books?
Regarding those who are mentally-ill or intellectually-challenged, The Ghanaian Times thinks the relevant departments must make the move to clear all of them from the street.
That way, the country would get rid of all the threats and nuisance they pose to the public such as their occasional attacks and the filth they create.