Tamale MCE ‘arrests’ under-aged children for unlawful roaming at night

A task force of Tamale Metropolitan Assembly led by the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) Issah Salifu Musah has abducted scores of children spotted roaming the outskirts of the metropolis at night without supervision.

Mr. Musah said his action is in a direction to sensitize the metropolis and rid the streets of Tamale of children between the ages of four and fifteen who wander about after 10pm.

Prior to the arrests, the MCE said he had the backing of Chiefs and elders in the area after a directive was issued to cordon parents in the past months about the movement of their wards at night therefore, failure to adhere means their children would be detained if found as culprits.

Speaking to reporters, Musah Superior said, the presence of these children on the streets at night is an indication of irresponsible nurturing on the part of their parents, a development he said would not be encouraged in the Northern part of the country.

“Tamale Metropolitan Assembly will no longer tolerate or accept children between the ages of zero and fifteen to roam the streets of Tamale. We have consistently communicated this to our chiefs, we have informed our elders, the religious leaders, we have issued press statement discussing it. In fact we inaugurated the Biasom task force which was supposed to be replicated in all the electoral areas in Tamale and we had sensitized the people of Tamale for the past two months,” said Mr. Musah.

Musah Superior held that the children have potentials of becoming great leaders in future, therefore every parent has a responsibility to ensure that their child’s dream is realized. He held that “no parent has an excuse not to keep a child safe.”

“The task force led by myself have removed the children from danger. The children are between the ages of six and fourteen and that is not acceptable. Every parent has the responsibility to keep the child safe. You do not have any excuse not to keep your child safe. And that is why I am sounding this caution to parent that the TaMA will no longer allow children under age to roam the streets of Tamale.



“These are future presidents, doctors, journalists and businessmen. We are not going to allow parents undermine the future of the metropolis,” he stressed.

Issah Salifu Musah has setup well-resourced centres where the children he takes into custody are confined and cared for by some officials of the social welfare.

He said the move is a step towards bringing an end to some social vices and criminal activities going on in the metropolis involving children.