Atimpoku children in risky business

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Feb 7, 2009

Several children at Atimpoku in the Asuogyaman District in the Eastern Region are engaged in a risky business of ferrying tourists across the Volta River, in canoes that are not equipped with any safety gadgets.
Most of them operate the canoe services on the Volta River on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, when tourists turn out in high numbers, and charge GH¢2 per person, which is far cheaper than the GH¢30 charged by the cruise boats operated by some of the hotels in the area.
The activities of the children pose danger not only to themselves but to their clients as well. They have neither life guards nor life jackets for their guests and any slip could result in drowning for those without swimming skills. Unlike the cruise boats operated by owners of hotels along the river, which use outboard motors for cruising, the canoes are paddled by their operators.
On Sunday, February 1, 2009, the Daily Graphic spotted five of such children perched in their canoes on the river waiting for tourists to arrive.
Two of them who operate canoe services on the river, Godwin, 15, a class six pupil, and Abraham, 14, a class 4 pupil, attend the nearby Achiase Primary School. They told the Daily Graphic that they had been doing the business for five and three years respectively.
According to the two (Godwin and Abraham), ferrying tourists on the river is another way of generating income. And for Godwin, who said he had lost both parents, ferrying tourists on the river is what he does to get money for school.
“I live with my elder brother who is a cobbler and get little from the work he does. I have to supplement his income by doing this work,” he said, adding that the boat he used belonged to a man he rendered account to at the end of the day.
He said on a good day he could make as much as GH¢30 and gave the boat owner GH¢2.
For Abraham, his parents are aware of the work he does. He said the canoe belonged to his father, who has sanctioned what he was doing. Both Godwin and Abraham said they could swim, and indicated that they were so familiar with the river, and therefore they knew how to move their guests round without having any problem or accident.
They do not only ferry foreign tourists, but also local travellers who wish to cross the river from one village to another.
Checks by the Daily Graphic at the Ghana Tourists Board (GTB) revealed that the practice of the children was unknown to the officials.
According to the Public Relations Manager of the GTB, Mr Ben Ohene Ayeh, it is not only illegal but dangerous for the children to engage in that practice without life jackets and life guards.
Following checks by the Daily Graphic, he said the board was going to prompt its Eastern Regional Office to be on the alert to check the practice.
A source at the Akosombo Continental Hotel, one of the hotels that operate cruise boats in the area, said the hotel had adopted the policy of safety first in its operations, since human life was at stake.