Painful Yet Avoidable Fatalities

The suffocation of three kids last Wednesday in an Accra suburb was not only sad news but an indictment on parenting in some quarters of society. It was the second time such an avoidable fatality had struck Accra and we shudder to think that both parents and others have not learnt lessons from the previous fatalities through similar suffocation. When avoidable fatalities of this nature strike, especially when the victims are children, the implication is that something was wrong on the part of parents. In some dispensations, the parents of the children would have been invited by the security agencies to answer questions pertaining to their stewardship of the kids. We are disappointed at the melancholic occurrence and think that it is a societal failure for three children to die in a stationary vehicle through suffocation. Many questions are certainly going to be posed by the detectives dealing with the subject, given for instance the fact that three kids were involved. With preliminary reports suggesting that there was no foul play, our anxiety can only be heightened. We eagerly await the outcome of the police investigations into the matter and hope when these are released, all of us shall learn valuable lessons about better management of our kids. We are also anxious to find out why the children, when they got into the car- assuming they did so on their own volition- got trapped, unable to find their way out of the confines of the stationary vehicle. In a previous incident, a child was electrocuted when he touched an electrified vehicle at a mechanic�s shop in an Accra suburb. The police detained the mechanic in charge of the vehicle but we have not heard about the outcome of the investigations and might not hear about the latest one. Parents must be more responsible about the upbringing of their children to obviate such avoidable fatalities. It is an undeniable fact that a certain percentage of children in the slums or deprived areas of Accra roam their neighbourhoods with their parents caring less about their whereabouts. Must we allow this trend to continue in our society? Nobody shows interest in the development of such area kids and whatever befalls them is considered an ordainment of fate with no questions posed. We must give birth to the number of children we can manage so that a situation where unwanted kids are allowed to roam the neighbourhood in the course of which they sometimes fall into trouble, is avoided. We sympathise with the parents of the kids and pray that God strengthens them to weather the storm generated by the unexpected loss.