Member of Parliament for Lambussie and a member of the Health Committee of Parliament, Dr Titus Beyuo, has revealed how his little son faced discrimination in school because of his skin tone.

He was speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show in reaction to the JoyNews documentary Bleached Babies: The Cost of Beauty, which highlights the harmful effects of skin bleaching and colourism in Ghana.

Dr Beyuo shared a personal story about his four-year-old son, who was left heartbroken after seeing a billboard featuring his schoolmates.

READ ALSO: Bleached Babies: The toxic beauty obsession endangering Ghana’s children

“My four-year-old saw a billboard while coming back from church, and his countenance fell and he became sad,” Dr Beyuo narrated. “This was his own school billboard, and the rest of us were excited. Then he confided in his mum that he usually sits in front, and on the day they were coming to take that picture for the billboard, he was relocated to the back, and the fairer kids in the class were brought to the front and a picture was taken to be used for the billboard.”

Dr Beyuo said the incident affected his son so deeply that he and his wife eventually decided to change his school.

“This is how society perceives fair, light-coloured skin people. This is not something that affects people who are not literate or educated. It got so bad that myself and my wife had to work on this mindset because he asked if the mother could get him a cream so that he would also be fair.”

He linked his son’s experience to broader societal attitudes towards skin tone and the increasing desire for lighter skin. He recounted another case from his medical practice.

“I had a patient who was in a partnership with a Caucasian, delivered a baby, and the baby was very dark. And then the mother asked me whether the baby will get fairer as the baby grows. And I said I couldn’t guarantee that. The next time I saw her, she had started bleaching the baby. I had to counsel her and refer her to a psychologist.”

Dr Beyuo warned that the issue is not simply due to a lack of education.

“I am not sure it is exactly ignorance because it looks like a lot of people know that there are some side effects. But we have to look at the societal drive.”

He explained that colourism operates differently across societies.

“Of course, if you are the only dark person around fair people, you stand out. So in the Caucasian population, people are trying to get darker, and in our population, the fair people stand out and therefore more people would want to get fair.”

Dr Beyuo urged Ghanaians to be mindful of the health risks associated with skin bleaching.

“People must be mindful of the medical consequences that come with it.”