Koforidua, Feb. 6, - The Eastern
Region Child Protection Committee (RCPC) has called on the various municipal
and district assemblies in the region to enforce the bye-laws on gaming
centres.
The RCPC said this would ensure
that children are prevented from patronizing the gaming centres to the
detriment of their education.
Mr Harrison Tete-Donkor, the
Chairman of the RCPC, said the rise in the gaming centres business was alarming
considering the high patronage of the centres by school going children.
He said in Koforidua, a special team collating information on these
gaming centres doubling as internet cafés, has identified 10 of such facilities
being patronized by children.
Mr Tete-Donkor, who doubles as
the Eastern Regional Director of the Department of Social Welfare, said Section
48 of the Nation Gaming Act prohibits children from coming near the centres and
there is the need to enforce this Act.
He said despite the alarming rate
of children patronizing these centres even during school hours, the New Juaben
Municipal Assembly had not shown any commitment to support his outfit to
address the concern.
The gaming centres, though are
licensed by the National Communication Authority and the National Gaming
Commission, it’s the assemblies that grant them the business operating permits
within their jurisdictions, he said.
The assemblies in this regard
have a responsibility through their social services committees to protect
children from patronizing these centres.
The RCPC at its first quarter
meeting in Koforidua instituted a three-man delegation to engage the National
Communications Authority and the Gaming Commission on ways to forestall the
involvement of children in their activities.
The Committee also discussed
other issues affecting the wellbeing of children and cited child prostitution
and teenage pregnancies, exploitative labour of children as some of the issues
to be focused on.
GNA
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