Queen mothers in the Upper West Region have been urged to take issues of child labour seriously and be the front runners in the fight to end the menace in their various communities.
To enable them to do that effectively, a training workshop on child labour has been organized for Queen Mothers in the Upper West Region.
Speaking at the workshop, the Wa Municipal Labour Officer, Abukari Ibrahim said since women relate better with children and other women, if the queen mothers are well educated on the issues of child labour they will be indispensible in addressing the practice.
The Wa Municipal Labour Officer Mr. Ibrahim in a presentation advised the Queen Mothers to encourage their subjects to take their children to school rather than engage them in tedious jobs.
He said “we should discourage our subjects from using children in their business or work since it can harm the child physically or morally. We should encourage children to go to school. We should again inform community members about the benefits of education.”
The one day training workshop was organised by the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs to deepen the participants’ knowledge on the Child Labour, Chieftaincy Acts as well as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
A Researcher with the sector Ministry Mr. Edem Dennis said the training forms part of efforts to make queen mothers relevant in matters of chieftaincy. He said other workshops would be organised to further build the capacities of the Queen Mothers.
The Acting Registrar at the National House of Chiefs Alexander Essien took participants through the Chieftaincy Act, Act 579 and the roles traditional Authorities can play in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
He impressed upon the traditional leaders to allow flexibility in the customary ADR and seek the consent of all parties involved before using the system to resolve an issue.
“Voluntary submission by the parties; if one party comes to you and makes a complain, you invite the other party and tell the person, Mr ‘A’ or Mr ‘B’ has brought an issue for me to look into it would you agree? If he agree that yes, then you can sit on the case. If he says no and because you have the power, you coerce or force him to hear him, if you give him the award and he goes to court, the court will set it aside,” he explained.
The President of the Upper West Regional Queenmothers Association, Hala Kuoro Hajaratu Limann expressed gratitude to the Ministry for the training. She expressed optimism that it would help them to make relevant inputs at the traditional council meetings.
“We have learned a lot, we have been exposed to so many things we were not aware of. With what we have learnt, we have realized that as Queen Mothers we have power to work alongside the chiefs.
The women groups are there, they have been inviting us for meeting sometimes, so I will use the opportunity to share this wonderful knowledge I have learnt today,” she said.
Source: Mark Smith/gbcghanaonline.com/2018
