By Philip Tengzu, GNA
Wa (UW/R), Sept. 15, GNA – There is a growing perception in some sections of the media and public discourse that street beggars in Accra, Kumasi and other major Ghanaian cities are predominantly citizens from northern Ghana.
However, a policy brief has challenged that widely held perception and described the phenomenon as a transnational organised street begging and migration governance challenge.
The brief, titled “Transnational Organised Street Begging in Ghana’s Urban Centres: Deconstructing the Narrative and Security Implications,” was prepared by Professor Elijah Yendaw, a Professor of Population and Migration Studies at the University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (UBIDS).
The brief argued that the misattribution of organised street begging to northern Ghanaians was factually inaccurate and ethnically stigmatising, and called for an evidence-based approach to understanding and addressing the phenomenon.
It said the actors involved in organised street begging were predominantly non-Ghanaian nationals from Sahelian countries, including Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Benin, operating through organised networks.
The brief further contended that the development had evolved beyond a social nuisance into an issue requiring attention from migration governance, border security and human protection institutions.
Professor Yendaw identified head-porting (kayayei) and street begging as a conflation of two distinct mobility streams creating the misconception about street begging in Ghana’s urban centres.
He said head-porting, described as internal labour migration, involved Ghanaian women and other workers, including northerners, who travelled to urban centres to engage in a fee-for-service labour-based activity.
However, the second stream was a cross-border irregular migration for begging, which the brief described as a non-labour, alms-dependent livelihood strategy involving foreign nationals.
It explained that northern Ghanaian communities had cultural values that upheld the dignity of labour and would not engage in street begging as a source of livelihood.
“Northern Ghanaians, culturally described as ‘pepeni’ (hardworking and truthful), have a socialisation that upholds the dignity of labour. Begging as a livelihood is culturally opposite to their norms,” the brief explained.
It, therefore, urged a clear distinction between the two phenomena in public discourse, since associating street begging with northern Ghanaian identity risked reinforcing ethnic stereotypes against people from that area.
Prof. Yendaw explained that organised cross-border street begging operated on a four-stage module.
They included irregular entry through porous borders, particularly in northern Ghana and transit, acclimatisation and enculturation in northern Ghana, including learning of dominant northern languages.
Others were identity shifting as a counter-profiling strategy and secondary urban migration to major urban centres to engage in organised street begging.
The brief identified several national security and human protection implications associated with organised street begging, particularly with increasing instability in the Sahel and the proliferation of violent extremism in West Africa.
It said undocumented entry through unapproved routes created security concerns as people could enter the country without background checks.
It also identified the potential for human trafficking and exploitation as a major concern, particularly with the involvement of women and children in begging rings.
Prof. Yendaw recommended a coordinated response involving the media, immigration authorities, security agencies, local government institutions and traditional authorities to address the menace of street begging.
The brief particularly called for media-led de-stigmatisation campaigns to distinguish Kayayei labour migration from transnational street begging.
It also recommended enhanced nationality verification protocols by the Ghana Immigration Service beyond language to include community validation through District Assemblies and traditional authorities.
It recommended intelligence-led operations to disrupt facilitation networks and transporters rather than relying solely on street-level roundups, and activation of the ECOWAS Free Movement Protocol to facilitate humane and dignified returns and bilateral readmission engagements with source countries.
It also proposed the establishment of a national Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Assemblies and the Ghana Immigration Service to guide profiling, child protection referrals and data management.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo
Reporter: Philip Tengzu, GNA
[email protected]