LITERATURE REVIEW BY BLESS KWESI ANKUDEY
Introduction
To Street Hawking Phenomenon
Due to the rapid
population growth and urbanization experience by Ghana and many sub-Saharan
countries, there is an increase in the rate of migration into the cities and
developed towns. The contemporary situation of Ghana is that the migration of
young people from the hinterland into the main centres of commercial
activities. These young persons have difficulties in finding jobs in the formal
economic sector due to their limited education and lack of skills for formal employment.
They have no choice than to take to the streets to fashion out living, some of
them virtually live on the streets and they are exposed to the vagaries of
street life such as rape, sex work, and crime.
This growing segment of
the vulnerable urban poor population is often overlooked. This is so because
they have no recognized addresses and usually seen as a liability rather than a
potential labour force that could contribute to national income if their
interests are properly been taken care of. Majority of these children who are
residing with people that are not their biological parents are pushed on the
street to sell items and make money for the business owners and use a little
part of the money generated to be able to take care of them (street hawkers).
This write up intends
to review definitions and explanations made by different authors from various
backgrounds of study regarding street hawking, its causes, and effects. Using
Pokuase highway as my case study.
The
social set up of Pokuase
Pokuase is a town that
can be located in the greater Accra region of Ghana. It can be located in the
Accra-Kumasi or Nsawam. It is a mixture of lively retail shopping areas with
local stores, bars, taxi/ bus stations and a market. It also has developing
residential areas and an established gated community of ACP estates. Pokuase
junction is one of the busy bus stops for public transports such as (trotros
and taxis) along the Accra-Kumasi high way. Pokuase is also found at the
central point in a multi sided roads leading to different parts of central Accra
and other major towns. From Pokuase you can drive or take local transport to
either central Accra, to Kumasi, to Mallam and so on
Definitions
Smart (1989), defined
street hawking as “the illegal hawkers who occupy public space without
government sanction who are the targets of daily harassment. ‘’
Kwankye (2005) investigated three aspects of
the north-south Independent migration of children namely; the costs and
benefits of the migration; the decision-making process, and the coping
strategies adopted by the independent child migrants in the two cities of
destination. Though the study did not directly investigate street hawking, to
the extent that majority of the children (especially the females) studied were
working on the streets mainly as porters (kayayei), their experiences may be
similar in several respects to that of the street hawkers.
(Asiedu et al 2008) said: there are accounts
of some street hawking, which is the act of selling retail goods on busy city
streets, a major phenomenon in developing countries. In most African cities,
the problem is especially acute, and Accra the Ghanaian capital is no
exception. Street hawking arises primarily because of rural urban migration,
unemployment, and the increasing number of school drop outs. It serves as a
source of livelihood and in addition, an avenue also, to supplement family
income. Rural poor youth moving into the city in search of non-existent jobs
fail to an employment because of lack of education and employable skills. They
end up as street hawkers selling wares on major city streets. Street hawking
involves selling goods of any form along the street. Such hawkers sell any item
one can think about. In addition to the hawkers, there are others on the
streets who beg for alms to help them survive. They migrate to the cities to
get involved in such businesses.
Cross
(1999) recognizes street vending as a key feature of the urban informal economy
and defines it as the production and exchange of legal goods and services that
involves the lack of appropriate business permits, violation of zoning codes,
failure to report tax liability, non-compliance with labour regulations
governing contracts and work conditions, and/or the lack of legal
guarantees in relations with suppliers and clients
CAUSES
Kwankye et al (2007)
said that “a number of factors were found to affect the decision of persons to
go into street hawking- the poverty situation of individuals, their age and
sex, employment opportunities in the formal sector, level of education and
migration status.’’
William (1997)
explained that: children without supervision spend much of their time out of
school and on the streets. Typically they are orphans, children of homeless
families, runaway with parents or guardians elsewhere, children who have been
lost during natural or social catastrophes such as earthquakes and civil wars.
He further explained that the causes of homelessness among children vary from
one continent to another. In Africa and Indonesia, where rates of maternal
death in childbirth may exceed 1,000 per 100,000 live births, large numbers of
children are orphaned at birth. After several years in a public orphanage,
these children often find their way to the streets, where they are socialized in
life by older, more experienced children.
Street hawking
involving children is a form of child abuse. When children are abused (beaten
or maltreated), they tend to make it to the street and engage in hard labour
for their survival. Children involved in this menace are mostly between the
ages of seven to seventeen. Edu and Edu (1999) describe child abuse as a wilful
maltreatment of a child. Such maltreatment according to them can include acts
of commission (abuse) and omission (neglect).
Obiri
(1996) observed that children mainly hawk on the streets to supplement the
income of their parents (especially those in the lower socioeconomic stratum).
Information on adult hawkers is lacking
EFFECTS
According
to Mitullah(2003), street hawkers especially female are force to pay bribes to
obtain licenses to operate. Also, most of them are opened to sexual abuses to
law enforcement officers. Some street hawkers
display their goods on walls, trees and an advanced group that construct
temporary shades with stands for displaying their commodities Mitullah (2003).
As a result of these, they are exposed to unfavourable weather conditions which
can be detrimental to their health.
The
hawkers risk being knocked down by vehicles on the road as they sell their
wares. The hawkers also obstruct traffic. Motorists are unable to keep driving
with the hawkers on the road. Accordingly, the hawkers are seen to be a major cause
of the endemic traffic jams on the roads of Accra. They flock roads forcing
motorists to use alternative routes which may be longer. As a result, the
motorists end up wasting time and expensive petrol in the process.
The
beauty of city streets are masked with the population of hawkers including
barbers, cobblers, garbage collectors, sellers of vegetables, fruit, meat,
snack-foods, or a myriad of non-perishable items as captured in Cohen et al
(2000: x)
REFERENCES
Cross,
John C., no date, „Street Vendors, Modernity and Postmodernity: Conflict and Compromise
in the Global Economy‟, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol.
20 No. 1/2, 40-52
Edu
DO, Edu GO 1999. Child Abuse in Nigeria: Its Impact on Child Development. A
paper presented at the First zonal Conference of the National Association of
Women Academics at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, March,
29-31.
Josephine
Smart (1989), The Political Economy of street hawking in Hong Kong, Issue 81 of
centre of Asian Studies Occasional papers and monographs, ISSN 0378-2689,
Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, pages 32-35
Kwankye,
S. O., Nyarko, P., Tagoe, C. (2007). Reproductive Health Implications of Street
Hawking in Accra.
Mitullah,
W V (2003) Street Trade in Kenya: Contribution of research in policy dialogue and
response, paper presented to Urban Research Symposium for Urban Development and
Economic Growth, World Bank, 2003.
Obiri, D.D. (1996). “A
Survey on Street Children”, Thesis submitted to ISSER for the award of Diploma
in Statistics (unpublished). University of Ghana, Legon
William
Kornblum (1997), Sociology in a Changing World, fourth edition, Christopher L.
Klein, page 134.
