Akuapem Poloo with her son
Akuapem Poloo, a controversial Ghanaian socialite, has received a lot of vilification for sharing her nude photo in public which had her seven-year-old son in it.
On Tuesday, the Instagram star, born Rosemond Brown, in a bid to celebrate the son’s birthday on Instagram, shared the photo in which she was captured naked and squatting before her half-naked son as they held hands.
The photo has since gone viral, and many Ghanaians have expressed their resentments with Poloo’s action, which clearly violated the rights of the innocent boy.
Some persons have also called on the state to crack the whip and make her face the full rigours of the law so to serve as a deterrent to other young mothers.
Child Rights International (CRI), a non-governmental organisation with the aim of upholding the fundamental human rights of children, as result has waded into the matter and petitioned the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service (GPS) to investigate the actress and take the necessary action.
In the petition signed by the Executive Director of CRI, Bright Appiah, it stated that “as a child rights organisation that believes in upholding the rights of children, we deem this act as a violation of the welfare principle of Children’s Act and abuse of the child’s right to privacy and dignity.”
NEWS-ONE gathered on Wednesday that the CID of the GPS invited Poloo for questioning after her denial on different platforms that she was invited.
She had also gone ahead to delete the nude photo and apologised to her followers on Tuesday evening and explained that the photo was an “art.”
According to her, she meant to carry out a message in an artistic form that children must not shy away from covering their parents’ nakedness—no matter what it takes, they should defend and stand by their parents.
However, the Deputy Minister For Gender, Children & Social Protection, Freda Prempeh, has said her outfit was waiting on Poloo’s encounter with the police to know the next line of action.
“I want use this opportunity to caution other young people that there are existing laws protects both the child and parent. So you the parent you have a responsibility to protect your child and the child also has the right that you should not infringe on. Even the child has the right to speak and the right to be heard,” she said on Hitz FM on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, legal practitioner Maurice Ampaw also told Ghanaweb that Poloo could face up to three years in jail or face a hefty fine for posing nude with her son and posting it on social media.
According to him, her conduct is against the child’s protection law as well as a criminal offence.
“There’s a law that talks about obscenity, that if you publish anything that has the potential of debasing, corrupting, defiling and spoiling the mind of observers and readers. The Children’s Act protects children against all things, including materials that pollute the minds of children,” he stated.
Showbiz personality Kwasi Ernest insisted that state authorities must make sure that Akuapem Poloo is punished— and that should include taking the child from her.
“The state must take the child from her because Akuapem Poloo has exhibited that she is got a mental problem that has to be dealt with,” he said on Hitz FM.