by Samuel Sarpong, Ghana, January 1997
THEME = SOCIAL CONDITIONS
Forty-five year old Mamudu Zimbo's life was transformed overnight when he got entangled in a brawl with the police after a theft. He used to be a strong and healthy dock worker till he got lured by a core of hardened criminals. One of his legs was shot at in the process and later amputated. After a stint in jail, he now parades along the heavily populated sections of Accra in crutches begging for alms.
Compared to Mamudu's condition, Abdul Azziz, 52, who sits barely five metres away, clad in Muslim clothes can be described simply as "able and healthy". Spread before him is a calabash filled with kola nuts, a large tray for collecting money and three live black fowls tied to an adjoining metal structure. As people pass by, he mutters something in Arabic, perhaps as a reassurance of his Islamic identity.
For both men, "business" starts immediately after eight in the morning when most people of all walks of life, move onto the streets. The beggars' ploy is simple: the demand is appealing. "Dear passer-by, kindly give me something, since I haven't eaten this morning. May God richly bless you, and may you receive even more than you give".
There are other types of beggars; - those who turn to begging under the pretext that they have relatives in a particular neighbourhood whom they cannot trace, and therefore need money to get home - the discharged mentally ill who are very often shabbily dressed, and who approach people in a ferocious manner - those who have too many children and have turned to begging in order to support their families.
There's another side to the picture. The authorities want to boost the nation's tourist industry, so need to present a good impression of the country to tourists. This means ridding the streets of vagrants.
Recently, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), unable to contain the situation, did the unthinkable. It picked up all the vagrants wandering by the roadside and dumped them at a beach about 40 miles from Accra, but some of them walked back, thus rendering the whole exercise a fiasco.
Public reaction to this ill-fated exercise was intense and many people described the AMA action as horrendous. The AMA was therefore compelled to suspend its action. The Department of Social Welfare which has responsibility for caring for the disabled in society, is currently in a dilemma as to what to do in the circumstances.
The authorities are required by law to situate reception centres in all the regional capitals, where beggars and other vagrants who roam the streets and have been arrested, can be sent for screening.
"In practical terms, this has not been possible due to lack of logistic support and cooperation from the police", says Anthony Morgan, an official with the Department of Social Welfare.
Begging is an offence in Ghana, and under the law, any person found begging, wandering or placing himself in any premises or place for the purpose of begging, can be liable to a fine or to imprisonment not exceeding three months or both. This law has hardly ever been invoked.
Again, it is an offence punishable by a fine or a jail term not exceeding three months or both, for persons to give alms to beggars. The law, however, exempts from prosecution those who "beg or receive alms in accordance with a religious custom, or for a public charitable purpose or organised entertainment".
The provisions under the law are therefore vague because what is happening? Begging for "religious reasons" can become the order of the day. The upsurge in alms-giving for purely spiritual reasons, is shown by the live fowls, cowries, kola nuts and other items spread before some beggars.
On the whole, business is good for some beggars. Kofi Kone, a cripple, claims he can do rather well in the "begging trade". He often makes around $10 (ten times the minimum daily wage). He however, deplores the recent influx of the able- bodied in the scheme of things. "They are trying to deprive us of our means of livelihood", he says.
A cross-section of Ghanaians are not happy with the high concentration of beggars in the towns. Some feel the beggars are having a field day cashing-in, on the sensitivity of Ghanaians. It has been proposed that, when appropriate, a thorough screening should be done on all vagrants, so as to find out their real needs.
END