The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has pledged to support Crime Check Foundation (CCF) to implement the “Decriminalizing Vagrancy Laws and Advocacy” project being funded by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) in Ghana.
With its mandate, the NCCE will help deepen awareness creation about the project and carry out education on the bye-laws in the project districts.
The main goal of the Decriminalizing Vagrancy Laws & Advocacy project is to create an enabling environment for ‘vagrants’ (the homeless, street hawkers, head porters, truck pushers, and market women, etc.) to know, claim and exercise their rights and responsibilities in Ghana.
Speaking during a courtesy call on the NCCE on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 in Accra, the Executive Director for CCF, Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng explained the importance of the project in protecting the rights of vulnerable citizens and the need for government to revise some outrageous laws through sensitization programmes.
“We have sensitized more than 1,200 citizens and stakeholders in 12 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies within Greater Accra, Ashanti and Central Regions of Ghana on bye-laws for them to know their rights and responsibilities,” he said.
He added, ‘the organization has also engaged key Justice Sector Institutions on vagrancy laws and the need to pass the Non-Custodial Sentencing Bill into law. We have organized media sensitization on vagrancy laws, built capacity for a core group of journalists and community monitoring teams to support media campaigns, monitoring and reporting of human rights infractions perpetrated under vagrancy laws.’
Mr. Kwarteng stated that due to low citizens’ knowledge of the law, many poor and voiceless persons are arrested, fined and imprisoned when they are unable to pay the fines imposed under the laws. The situation, he said has contributed to congestion in Ghana’s prisons.
He therefore called on the NCCE to support sensitization efforts to get the appropriate authorities to act.
The Director for Communications and Corporate Affairs, Joyce Afutu who received the CCF team on behalf of the Commissioner, noted that the CCF-OSIWA intervention was important because there have been an increase in the abuse of poor persons especially females.
“I once witnessed the prosecution of a female head porter who was a single mother and it was worrying,” she bemoaned.
Madam Afutu assured CCF that the NCCE would contribute to educational campaigns on relevant laws that poor persons fall victim to.
“With our personnel and good presence in the project districts, we will support education on the laws to contribute to sustainable call for action, Madam Afutu added.
About OSIWA: The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), established in 2000, is a grant-making and advocacy organization focused on equality, justice, democratic governance, human rights, and knowledge generation. It is part of the global network of Open Society Foundations spread across 37 countries around the world.
By Rudolph Nandi
www.rudnankp4@gmail.com
