LUNATICS and the destitute are the most vulnerable in every society and it is the duty of governments, religious and other civic groups and the society in general to give them protection.
The destitute are kept in rehabilitation centres or homes and those who have lost their memories are taken to psychiatric homes for proper care.
The absence of these centres to cater for the numerous destitute and lunatics in the twin-City of Sekondi -Takoradi has seen an increase in the number of the vulnerable in the society on the streets.
The sad aspect is that some of the lunatics walk straight to food vendors to demand food from them.
They are found at street corners with their dirty and worn out cloths and empty cans as their drinking cups and plates for food.
While some keep their surroundings clean, others litter everywhere they find themselves.
The metropolis headed by Mr Philip Kwesi Nkrumah, is one of the best places one could be.
But at every corner one goes in the metropolis he or she finds one or two lunatics either sleeping or acting in a way that could best be described as dangerous to members of the society.
Before the kick off of the Africa Cup of Nations, Ghana 2008, the then Shama Ahanta East Metropolitan Assembly (SAEMA) now the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) gave a promise to keep the lunatics off the streets, but nothing has been done about it.
The lunatics and destitute use abandoned buildings or street corners in the metropolis as their places of abode. Some of them find classrooms and school compounds comfortable after school hours especially during rainy days.
The situation is getting out of hand as such something must be done to keep the lunatics and destitute off the streets since a lot of attention is currently on the twin-city which is a tourism destination.
It is unfair that as efforts are being made to develop more tourism sites, lunatics are turning themselves into negative tourist attractions .
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the STMA, Mr John Laste, said the situation had come to the notice of the assembly.
“Our plan is to relocate the vulnerable and the destitute. The assembly is seriously working around the clock to create a reception centre for them at a place near Shama,” he said.
He said one of the sad and serious aspects of the situation was whereas the assembly was ready to help it had difficulty locating their families.
“That is not to say that we cannot pick them from the street, screen them and send them to psychiatric homes, our only problem is that, when these our unfortunate brothers and sisters are sent to those homes and are cured, the final advice the doctors give is that they should be engaged in order not to relax their minds,” he said.
“But I can tell you on authority that before the Ghana 2008 tournament started we took some lunatic to the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital in the Central Region, some were cured, and the families located, but they were rejected few days later and had to go back to the streets of the metropolis,” he said.
Asked if they had been able to find out how those lunatics made their way to the metropolis, he said: “I don’t have empirical evidence to support what I will say, but the issue is that some travel by foot after they had escaped from Ankaful, this is because there are some here that we sent there but they are back in the metropolis.
“That is not to say that we have given up on them, we are still deliberating on how to keep them off the street and at our meetings they feature prominently,” Mr Laste stressed.
With the plight of the destitute, religious groups should be guided by the natural laws that speak of our duty to protect the vulnerable in the society. This duty takes precedence even over our religious practices.
It is the hope of the writer that as they wait for the help from the assembly, help would come from the religious groups in and outside the metropolis.
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