13 Children missing at Dansoman

Saturday, July 2, 2011 (The Mirror Pg 21)
By Rebecca Kwei
Thirteen children between the ages of two and five living at Dansoman, a suburb of Accra, were reported missing during the first quarter of this year.
This is a sharp rise from 15 children that were reported missing from the same area for the whole of 2010 according to records at the Accra Regional Police. Within the same period too, there there was one missing child each in Tudu, Taifa and Chorkor, all suburbs of Accra.
According to ASP Cyprian Zenge of the Public Affairs Unit, five out of the 13 missing children have been found and reunited with their parents.
However, he said, those five were the ones reported to the police and there were cases where the found children were not reported.
ASP Zenge said the trend, especially around Dansoman and its environs was worrying and appealed to parents to take good care of their children and be vigilant.
He said the cases could be attributed to negligence on the part of parents who sometimes failed to pick them from school or fail to leave them in the care of someone they trust when they are leaving for work.
He said parents should ensure that they leave their children in the care of trustworthy people when they cannot take them along to wherever they are going.
“It is a crime for parents to neglect their responsibility to protect and keep safe any child whether biological or not under their care” ASP Zenge said.
He said the police was conducting a lot of education and awareness programmes on safety and security for communities but added that the primarily responsibility lied with the individual to be cautious and vigilant.
The June 18, 2011 issue of The Mirror reported that between February, 2010 and June, this year, the Social Welfare Office at the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service, (DOVVSU) in Accra, had received 172 cases of missing children, and more cases are being recorded daily.
Giving a break-down of the cases, the Head of the Social Welfare Office, Mr Dela Ashiagbor, said from February to December, 2010, 120 missing children were brought from various parts of the city to the unit, out of which 50 had so far been released to their families.
From January to June 14, this year, there were 52 cases out of which 14 had been reunited with their relatives.