Nkoranza (B/A) July 22 GNA - Mr Patrick Yeboah-Asuamah, Nkoranza District Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has attributed streetism among the youth in Nkoranza area of Brong Ahafo Region to parental neglect.

Speaking in an interview with Ghana News Agency, the District Director noted that some men in the communities did not care about the upbringing of their children or wards. Touching on cases that the office had handled within the first quarter of 2005 Mr Yeboah-Asuamah said the Commission handled 49 cases between January and March.

He gave the breakdown as January 19, February 13 and March 17 with non-maintenance of children accounting for 20 of the cases. "Studies have revealed that a number of men, who divorce their wives often leave the children to the care of the women and refuse to fend for them, hence children from such homes are compelled to take to the streets as their mothers are unable to care for them properly. "It is wrong for parents to shirk responsibility for their children since such parents can be arrested and prosecuted at the law courts to put them on track and to serve as deterrent to others", the District CHRAJ Director said.

Mr Yeboah-Asuamah called on Municipal and District Assemblies to critically examine the problem of streetism and its effects on society and enact by-laws to address the challenge. "Most children from broken homes grow to become wheelbarrow and truck pushers at lorry stations and this kind of work exposes them to all sorts of social vices", he said.

Mr Yeboah-Asuamah expressed concern about the refusal of some men to accept responsibility for pregnancies of their concubines, saying the Commission handled nine of such cases during the period under review. Other cases were on conflicts in the inheritance of properties of deceased persons, tenancy matters and breach of contract agreements, he said.