The role of community leaders in the eradication of alms begging in Nima, Ghana

• Date: 13 February 2023
• Pages: 362-380
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOES-10-2021-0198
• Published date: 13 February 2023
• Subject Matter: Economics,Social economics
• Author: Adam Salifu,Abass Umar Abdul-Karim

The role of community leaders in

the eradication of alms begging

in Nima, Ghana

Adam Salifu and Abass Umar Abdul-Karim

Department of Business Administration, University of Professional Studies, Accra, Ghana

Abstract

Purpose –While the causes and effects of begging are well known, solutionson how to eradicate begging

are still elusive in many parts of the developing world.The purpose of this study is to examine the different

ways throughwhich community leaders at the local level can contributeto the eradication of begging in one of

Ghana’smost densely populated suburbs in the city of Accra.

Design/methodology/approach –This study was undertaken using the qualitative approach, and

primary data was collected through interviews, participants observation and focus group discussions with

beggars,community leaders and off‌icials of non-governmentalorganisations at Nima, a suburb of Accra.

Findings –Begging in the suburb of Nima is increasingly becominga business venture. It is no more an

activity that is the preserve of only the weak, the poor, the elderly, the physicallychallenged, the needy and

the marginalised in society. Thispaper argues that the eradication of begging requires multiple approaches

and that community-basedleaders must play a central role. This paper identif‌ied the provisionof alternative

sources of livelihood,the naming, shaming and condemnation of unjustif‌ied begging in the community,strict

boarder control, returning foreign beggars to their home countries, the formulation and enforcement of

community anti-begging by-laws and regular sensitisation programs on begging as crucial in reducing or

eliminatingbegging.

Research limitations/implications –While focusing on one Muslim-dominated suburb in Accra

ensures a detailed discussion of strategiesof eliminating begging from a cultural and religious perspective,

the f‌indings of this study may not be applicable to non-Islamicsettings and communities where cultural or

religiousleadership structures do not exist.

Practical implications –This study has demonstrated that the eradicationof begging in society cannot

have one-size-f‌it all solution. This paper shows that in societies where cultural and religious leadership

structures exist, they must play important roles in the design and implementationof strategies that seek to

reduce or eliminate religious begging in society. This implies that formal government agencies and their

associatedlaws alone will not be enough to eradicate or reduce beggingunder such contexts.

Originality/value –Measuresto eradicate begging have often ignored the roleof community leaders. This

paper contributes to our understandingon this by specif‌ically examining the phenomenon of begging at the

micro level and exploringthe different ways community leaders can contribute to the eradicationof begging

in society.

Keywords Alms begging, Begging, Community leaders, Eradication, Ghana, Muslim community

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

The livelihood of many children, women, the marginalised and the physically challenged in

several countries in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) still depend on begging partly because the

welfare systems in thesecountries are either weak or non-existent (D’Hondt and Vandewiele,

1984;Fuseini and Daniel, 2020;Weiss, 2007). In the context of this paper, begging refers to

the process of asking for food, money or other material things using different techniques

such as pleads, persuasion, pretence and theatrics. As a social problem, begging is often

IJOES

40,2

362

Received27 October 2021

Revised8 March 2022

18June 2022

4 November2022

Accepted20 January 2023

InternationalJournal of Ethics and

Systems

Vol.40 No. 2, 2024

pp. 362-380

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2514-9369

DOI 10.1108/IJOES-10-2021-0198

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2514-9369.htm

viewed as the product of the structure of society in which the economic disadvantaged

persons rely on those with advantageous economicstatus for survival (Clark, 2007;Kassah,

2008;Owusu-Sekyere et al., 2018). There is a growing concern that begging is becoming

widespread in many cities of SSA (Fuseini and Daniel, 2020;Owusu-Sekyere et al.,2018).

Yet, when begging remains widespreadin society, it may pose economic and social threat to

development. In Ghana, it is increasingly becoming a business venture and not necessarily

an activity undertaken by the weak, the poor, the elderly, the physically challenged, the

needy and the marginalised in society. Available statistics on the number of beggars in

Ghana and the rest of the SSA are hard to f‌ind, but begging is on the rise becauseit is now

more visible than before in thestreets, markets, mosques, bus stops and other public places

(Fuseini and Daniel, 2020;Owusu-Sekyere et al., 2018;Taiwo, 2018;Weiss, 2007). In SSA,

begging is even more noticeable in the major streets of capital cities as well as around

Muslim-dominatedsuburbs (Fuseini and Daniel, 2020;Taiwo, 2018;Weiss, 2007).

An increase in the number of beggars will, however, have adverse implications for

members of the society, including policymakers, sociologists, geographers and urban

planners (Taiwo, 2018;Weiss, 2007) and health professional given the recent COVID-19

pandemic. This study examines the roles of local and religious leaders in reducing or

eliminating begging in a Muslim-dominated suburb in the city of Accra, Nima. The

incidence of begging in Nima is generally highas compared to other suburbs of Accra and

the rest of the country. Nima is often referred to as a Zongo [1], and like many Zongos,its

inhabitants are characterisedby high incident of poverty, high school dropout, highrates of

illiteracy and low level of education(Agyei-mensah and Owusu, 2012;Awumbila et al.,2017;

Weiss, 2020). Although several factors explain why people resort to begging in the Zongos,

the relatively high levels of poverty and the high dropout rates among children of school-

going age in these communities partlyexplain why the phenomenon is widespread (Weiss,

2007;Kassah, 2008). The prevalenceof begging in Muslim-dominated communities has also

led many to associate the Islamic religion with begging(Fuseini and Daniel, 2020;Osa Edoh

and Ayano, 2012;Weiss, 2007), but it must be emphasised that begging is not necessarily

the creation of the Islamic religion (Weiss, 2007). While the Islamic religion makes it

obligatory for Muslims to providefor the marginalised, the poor and less privilege in society

through practices like Zakat (obligatorygiving of alms), Sadaqa (voluntary giving of alms)

and Waqf (pious endowment that may serve a charitable purpose) (Weiss, 2007), these

practices do not in any way imply that the Islamic religion supports begging. For many,

begging is the consequence of social structuration and state inaction (D’Hondt and

Vandewiele, 1984;Weiss,2007;Fuseini and Daniel, 2020) and not the creation of a religion.

In Ghana and many developing countries in SSA, begging is regarded by many as a

societal problem. As one moves alongthe principal streets of Nima and the rest of Accra, the

number of children of school-going age that engagein begging is a worrying trend. This is

exacerbated by the arrival beggars from neighbouring countries such as Mali, Niger, Chad

and Nigeria. This calls for the need to regulate the growing number of beggars in such

communities. Unfortunately, most studies in Ghana and the rest of SSA have focused on

understanding the nature and characteristics of beggars (Hitchcock, 2005;Kassah, 2008;

Owusu-Sekyere et al., 2018), reasons for its occurrence (Kassah, 2008;Fuseini and Daniel,

2020), the experiences of those involved in it and the effects of begging (Weiss, 2007).

Strategies to reduce begging, particularly the role of community leaders, are under-

researched. To the best our knowledge, there is no study that examines practical ways to

reduce or eliminate begging in Ghana using a bottom-up approach in a Muslim-dominated

community where the incidence of begging is noticeably high. This study, therefore, not

Eradication of

alms begging

in Nima

363