Editorial (The Daily Searchlight, Wednesday, March 9, 2022)
Ghana has a Social Welfare Department, but from all accounts, it seems to exist more in name, than in substance. In spite of the existence of tens of thousands of churches, mosques and religious organizations in Ghana, it seems that when people are in dire need of help and a consoling hand, such help would never be forthcoming.
At least, not from the expected quarters.
Ghana continues to experience the shocking tragedy of women throwing their new born babies into toilets and other unacceptable practices, as a consequence of poverty, and lack of succor.
Such is the case of the story of an unidentified woman who threw her baby into feces at Nkrantwanta in the Dormaa West district of the Bono region.
The newly born baby was spotted writhing in the human excreta, and had it not been for some Good Samaritans, it would sure have died.
An attempt had been made to dispose of it in a manhole of the Nangom public toilet at the Asuopri Central Electoral Area in Nkrantwanta.
The Daily Searchlight cannot imagine the level of desperation and mental illness that would compel a mother to such infamy; but we believe that the time may have come for the nation to begin considering how it can put in place the structures that would offer protection to women and vulnerable people who find themselves in such situations.
We thank the rescuers of the child, and we hope that its salvation would serve as an inspiration to the government to think on how it can put in place systems that offer succor to the poor.
(This editorial was first published in the Wednesday March 9, 2022 edition of the Daily Searchlight. The Daily Searchlight appears on the newsstands in Ghana every day of the week and is also available for sale online and worldwide on www.ghananewsstand.com).
