Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings is sounding the alarm on an issue many Ghanaians tend to brush aside — gaming and betting addiction, especially among the youth.
Speaking at a sensitisation programme on gambling addiction and mental wellness held at Accra Technical University, the Member of Parliament for Klottey Korle didn’t mince her words.
She acknowledged that while society often fixates on substance abuse — particularly “red” — there’s a more subtle, growing problem that isn’t getting enough attention.
“I know that the common thing that we are all hearing is the addiction to drugs, especially red, but the most subtle one is the one associated with behaviour that you do not recognise as addictive or drug abuse, and that is gaming addiction,” she stated.
Dr. Rawlings went further to highlight how this addiction is not just confined to campuses or idle youth, but even extends into critical professional sectors.
“There are people today, as we speak, who are even in very sensitive positions in the financial sector and are addicted to all sorts of things, and what they ended up doing is misappropriating people’s funds,” she revealed.
She described a dangerous cycle where individuals, already in well-paying jobs, allow compulsive behaviours to take control, leading to professional misconduct.
“They get fired from one job and they end up in another and they repeat the same behaviour,” she said. “So, this is not someone who started off as a student who could not afford to pay for his hostel or rent; this is someone who is employed in a job where they have everything they need.”
The MP’s remarks were not just an exposé but also a call for introspection. She explained that addiction often stems from the brain’s need for repeated pleasure, and gaming or gambling provides just that — an easy escape that slowly becomes a trap.
“That thing is the pleasure part of your brain that once it lobs into the fact that a particular behaviour generates a certain amount of pleasure, you keep doing it,” she warned.
Dr. Rawlings is urging stakeholders — from parents and educators to policymakers — to take these concerns seriously and initiate an honest national conversation around the mental health impacts of gaming and betting in Ghana.
