Dr Leticia Adelaide Appiah, the executive director of the National Population Council (NPC), has said those who defile children must be castrated to deter others.
“I think one of those who defile children should be castrated. I am telling you that the devil who they claim causes that will leave all of them at once,” Dr Appiah told the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
Touching on the controversial issue of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI), she said it was only prudent that the nation did not forget about other forms of malpractices that heavily had negative impacts on the lives of children and other vulnerable people.
“If we really want the quality of life for our people, how much are we angry about rape, defilement, paedophiles, teenage pregnancies, and child marriage among others which hurt people, especially those who are more vulnerable.
Sowing bitterness
“We are all talking about the LGBTQI and we forget about the children and other things they could be going through and they are there listening, saying if this LGBTQI is mainly adult issue, then what about us. Some are being defiled, some are being gang-raped, and nobody cares. Do you think when they grow up, they should care? You sow bitterness and you reap bitterness,” Dr Appiah added.
Dr Appiah asked parents and guardians to be mindful of children who were constitutionally in their care.
“Adults are to make their own decisions and bear the consequences, but children are to be protected. If you protect a child, you protect society and with how you are protected and trained as a child, you will grow with it and it will inform your values.
“When we close our doors and go to bed, do we care about those on the streets, mainly children? So are we exposing them to people who can take advantage of them? In countries, where they really abhor paedophiles, they make it public and publish their details across the media to protect children,” she said.
Dr Appiah recommended that profiles of paedophiles and those who defiled children be publicised to make parents and children conscious of such people to stay safe.
Source: K Mensah
