President expresses concern about lean funds for children

President John Atta Mills has said inadequate budgetary allocation for children’s programmes affected their well-being and opportunities. He said there was the need to budget well, plan, invest and train and groom them to take up leadership roles in future. President Mills said this in a speech read on his behalf by the Central Regional Minister, Mrs. Ama Benyiwa Doe, at the President’s end of year party for children drawn from 40 basic schools in the Mfantsiman Municipality. The party held at Otuam near Mankessim was under the theme, “Planning and budgeting for children: our collective responsibility”. He said children are the most vulnerable in society because they are voiceless and expressed worry that most of them are affected by poor nutrition, poor education and lacked the basics of life and called for concerted efforts in addressing children’s issues. President Mills emphasized the need for them to be well protected because they are to replenish the nation’s human resources who will also transfer its values and norms from one generation to another. The Municipal Chief Executive for Mfantsiman, Mr. Henry Kweku Hayfron, expressed worry about the rampant child trafficking going on in the area and said the Assembly and the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) had stepped up education on it. “There is the need to enforce laws to bring perpetrators to book” he said and added that teenage pregnancy was another major challenge of the area. He said the Assembly was working out a partnership programme with investors to construct a Modern Amusement Park to care for the recreational needs of children while through its collaborative effort with Kent County Council in the UK, a Community Skills Training Center to train the youth in employable skills would soon be established. A community Information centre will also be constructed at Saltpond. Mrs. Benyiwa Doe said parental neglect has mostly been traced to poverty but called on parents and families to see their role as fundamental to the well-being of children. She said the government has increased the capitation grant to enable more parents enroll their children in school adding that the school feeding programme and the provision of free school uniforms to school children are all efforts to sustain the interest of children in school .