Some street beggars from the neighbouring countries who were recently repatriated by the government have returned to the streets in Kumasi.
The beggars, mostly from Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and South Sudan, have now taken over streets in Alabar, Aboabo station and the Kumasi Central Mosque in their numbers.
This time around, they are not using their children to beg for alms on the streets but are now sitting on plastic chairs, hiding in corners, dressed in beautiful Muslim attire, plying their ‘trade.’
Some of the beggars who spoke to the Ghana News Agency said they paid around 150,000.00 CFA to ‘agents’ on the numerous unapproved routes, to get back to Ghana.
According to Karimu Sambo, a father of six, it took him and the family almost one week to get back to Ghana.
He said though things are not the same as the time of their repatriation from Ghana in 2022, he could make between GH¢ 130.00 and GH¢ 150.00 a week on the streets, adding that, “I am a happy man in Ghana, than my native country Niger.”
It would be recalled that the government of Ghana after a series of concerns raised by some Ghanaians on the behaviour of these beggars on the streets in the major cities and towns in the country, repatriated over 1,320 beggars and their children to their respective countries.
However, they are back again on the streets in Kumasi in their numbers.
According to some of the beggars, they are very happy in Ghana because they make a lot of money to cater for themselves and their families.
A source at the Ashanti Regional office of the Department of Social Welfare who pleaded anonymity said the issue of foreign beggars on the streets needed a concerted and coordinated intervention of all the key government agencies to resolve.
He said the numerous unapproved routes on the country’s borders needed to be tackled effectively to prevent unauthorized persons to enter the country.