Speakers call for law to protect domestic servants

Goaso (B/A), Aug 14, GNA - Speakers at an information sharing platform at Goaso in Asunafo North District have called for a law to protect and maintain the dignity of domestic servants. They expressed regret that such workers are often maltreated by their masters and mistresses in their homes of work "but as human beings they must be respected and protected against such inhuman acts". The platform, organized by Goaso-based Success FM radio station with BUSAC Fund support, was on the topic, "Making the Domestic Servant Institution a Job Creation Avenue".

It was aimed at dialoguing with stakeholders so as to give proper recognition to domestic servants in the country.

Alhaji Abubakar Ishak Bonsu, Asunafo North District Chief Executive, expressed regret that children were subjected to all sorts of ill treatment and labour in homes and farms as domestic servants. He said some adults even went the extent of recruiting children from other parts of the country for domestic work, describing the practice as inhuman and "another form of slavery". "Such acts are reminiscent of the obnoxious slave trade that was abolished more than 200 years ago and we cannot allow this to go on in this modern era as our children suffer slavery on cocoa farms", he said.

Alhaji Bonsu said the current stand by buyers of cocoa to stop buying the produce from areas where child labour prevailed was laudable. He said government interventions in education were to ensure that all children attended school, noting that children in slavery grew up to become social miscreants.

"Most of the armed robbers, drug addicts were children nurtured under such conditions and their activities as adults tend to destabilize the country's progress", Alhaji Bonsu said.

He urged all to encourage and nurture children in safe conditions so they could develop their talents and help advance society. Most Rev Peter Atuahene, Catholic Bishop of Goaso, expressed regret that most domestic servants were girls who either did not attend school or were dropouts.

He said because the recruitment of such workers had not been regularized, it had been easy for masters and mistresses to trample on their rights.

The Bishop called for a regularization of their recruitment and be called domestic workers or employees so they could enjoy due respect. Mrs. Rosaline Obeng-Ofori, a gender/human resource development consultant, appealed for the protection of young girls against sexual violence.

She said research had shown that "more than 800,000 children are on the streets because their parents are on the streets and such condition breeds armed robbery, prostitution and other social vices". Mrs Obeng-Ofori called for greater efforts to eliminate child labour so that children could grow up to realize and harness their potentials and contribute to national development.

Mr. Mohammed Kwaku Doku, co-ordinator of Network for Advocacy and Development Alternatives (NADA), a non-governmental organisation, said the neglect, discrimination and lack of state regulation and recognition, demeaned the domestic servant institution as a job avenue.