The Member of Parliament for the Effutu Constituency, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has called for a comprehensive Online Child Protection policy to regulate the use of social media among children.

In a statement on the floor of Parliament on Friday, the Deputy Majority Leader said the “present and future of our children are in grave peril” if efforts and measures are not scaled up to protect them from the dangerous hazards of early social media use and consumption.

He has thus recommended that Parliament direct the Ministries of Interior, Communications and Digitalization and Gender, Children and Social Protection to expedite work on developing a comprehensive Online Child Protection Policy for adoption and implementation within the immediate future.

He also wants Parliament to lead an amendment to the Cyber Security Act 2020 to impose an obligation on the Cyber Security Authority to submit SEPARATE bi-annual reports for consideration and subsequent action on detailed measures it has taken to specifically safeguard Ghanaian children from the harmful effects of Social Media use and consumption.

Finally, the MP has also called on Parliament to draft and pass a new law, through the efforts of private members, prohibiting Ghanaian children under 16 from irresponsibly consuming and or using Social Media.

In that law, Mr Afenyo-Markin says offending parents or guardians –– through whose negligence and or acquiescence children consume or use harmful Social Media content or become owners of Social Media accounts ¬–– must face punitive fines.