“LIGHT SKINNED” BEGGING IN ACCRA

THE PEOPLE THAT WORK ON THE STREET!

Accra has for some few years now become a hub for light skinned foreigners whose daily activity is to beg. In suburbs of Accra, one is likely to find them at major business districts including Circle, Kaneshie, Accra Central just to mention but a few.

Walking around these areas means that one has to keep some few coins on him in case he comes across some of these light skinned foreigners. Coming across them is not the problem but whether you are made a target is what matters. 

When I say target, I mean that being surrounded by an uninvited guests who will ask you for money. I deliberately chose to ignore the word “beg”. This is because the methods they employ cannot be described as such. Imagine walking around a very busy business district in your city during a morning rush hour to work and then you are surrounded by some uninvited guests who hold your hands all of a sudden and say “give me money to buy food and water”.

METHODS EMPLOYED

There is a specific method or better still tactics that they employ which I term as “inferior tactics”. First, the parents locate highly used pedestrian walkway within the city. They pitch camp there and ask their children to spread out to start their jobs. Finally, they identify their targets and start the harassment. 

 Something also strikes me. What strikes me is that whilst the light skinned beggars who are mainly children are at their duty posts, their parents sit aloof. Sometimes, the parents whom I describe as ''commandants'' direct the foot soldiers to some targets. How do they identify these targets? Perhaps, they see what we do not see. Maybe I can try a guess.

Most of their targets are neatly dressed, nice shoes and looks to have cash on them based on their appearance and outfit. I have had the opportunity of been surrounded. In some cases I do my best, other times, I get annoyed and walkaway still with their hands in my armpit. 

As you may rightly have noticed in this article that I am very amazed and shocked by the way they operate, there was an observation I made that stuck me! I was going to school one early morning and when I alighted from the bus to pick a taxi, I saw a commander (a light skinned beggar’s father) seated comfortably at a pedestrian walkway and checking out his brand new phone. I was dumbfounded. I stared at him for a while and walked past him.

A SOLUTION?

About three months ago too, I was sitting in a taxi to school. A light skinned man who was nicely dressed and sitting next to me was asked by a “foot soldier” (female of about 7 years) to give her money. The man spoke to her in Hausa. Though I do not speak that language, I made sense of what he asked the girl. He asked her why she was not at an Islamic school which is known in Arabic as “Makaranta”. Forgive me if it is wrongly spelt. He did not give her a single penny.

Now, the inferior tactics have also caught up with some Ghanaian children. I wonder if they are going to invent another begging strategy to deceive their Ghanaian counterparts or they will stick to the traditional way and compete. Walking at some busy streets and suburbs can sometimes be a headache when you encounter them continuously, each of them demanding their pound of flesh.

There are a few questions that I will like to put forward. Where do they come from? How do they come into the country? Are their documents scrutinized before their entry into the country? These questions are worth asking. It’s a food for thought.

source: Andrew Frimpong/iNewsGh

Posted in: Ghana, politics