President of the Traders Advocacy Group Ghana, David Amoateng, says instead of resorting to incarceration, the Ministry of Works and Housing should involve young offenders in community service initiatives.
Speaking on Onua FM’s morning show, Yen Nsempa, with Nana Yaa Brefo and JB Tuesday, February 27, 2024, Mr. Amoateng said this will be a progressive approach to handling young offenders in the community.
“Minister for Works and Housing should assign them to construct 1000 pieces of pavement blocks as a form of punishment to them.
“There are instances where a gentleman steals an earpiece and the government sentences him to 6 months. There is another that steals plantain and cassava and he’s sentenced to 4 months. That is bad policy implementation,” he criticised.
Expanding on his point, he stressed that Ghana’s development trajectory hinges on effectively utilizing its young population. “Ghana has a long way to go in development, and one way to bridge that gap is by harnessing the potential of young people,” Amoateng added.
He stated further that redirecting these individuals to companies in need of labour, particularly in construction industries, would mark a departure from past policy failures in Ghana, such as the flawed implementation of free Senior High School (SHS) education.
“The free Senior High School project is a good idea, so why is the implementation so poor?” he questioned, adding that “there are companies, construction industries in Ghana that need such hands to work, let us hand over these mild offence perpetrators to such companies.”
By Lois Dogbe|Onua FM
