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Cohabitation high among university students – Prof. Yaa Oduro
Prof. Yaa Oduro
A study conducted by the University of Cape Coast (UCC) has found a high and growing incidence of cohabitation among university students living in private hostels.
Cohabitation is to live together and have a sexual relationship without being married.
The situation is attributed to the extreme freedom in the private hostels enjoyed by the students, unlike the traditional university halls where some control mechanisms have been instituted.
In a few cases, the students put their resources together to rent the space for economic reasons.
While the majority of students thought cohabitation was bad, a few perceived it as good, fun and normal.
The study, which was also conducted in some adjoining communities found that the practice was contributing highly to teenage pregnancy and child marriage.
Professor Georgina Yaa Oduro, the Head of the Sociology and Anthropology Department at UCC, shared the findings at a workshop on ending child marriage and Gender-based violence for some traditional council registrars from eight regional houses of chiefs and the National House of Chiefs.
The training, organised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, sought to deepen the understanding of the registrars on child marriage, gender-based violence and other harmful practices to help them function effectively.
“If you are on campus and in the halls, you have the hall masters, tutors, and the hall council to control you. In the all-female halls, for example, guys cannot visit the halls after 10:00 p.m,” Prof. Oduro said.
“But in the private hostels, comparatively, you have the freedom to do whatever you want.” Prof. Oduro said the partners performed all the roles of married couples including sex and domestic chores such as cooking, washing and giving out money.
Some of the students, particularly the young women who had to juggle academic work and domestic chores for their partners, sometimes missed lectures or attended late, affecting their studies, she noted.
Like in the communities, she observed that cohabitation among students was also characterised by gender-based violence such as forced sex, abortions and quarrels often due to the freedom in such relationships
She narrated how a 22-year-old male student of UCC died by suicide this year following a misunderstanding with his partner he was cohabiting with. Many of those relationships unfortunately ended after school, she noted.
The professor noted that very little attention had been given to the issue and called for concerted efforts by stakeholders, including parents, lecturers, school authorities, and traditional and religious leaders, to mitigate it.
Prof. Oduro observed with worry the abuse of emergency contraceptives by young girls and cautioned against the same.
“It is my understanding that such pills are supposed to be taken once in six months or so. But for some children today, it’s their everyday pill,” she stated with concern. –GNA
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Over GH₵80m was collected in betting tax, Amin Adam got it wrong – Finance Minister
Ghana’s Minister for Finance Ato Forson says the claim by former Finance Minister Mohammed Amin Adam that the erstwhile administration never implemented the betting tax is not factual.
Speaking at a new conference on Tuesday, March 11, shortly after the Finance Minister presented the new government’s first budget statement and abolished the e-levy, betting tax among others, the former Finance Minister said the NPP government never enforced the controversial tax on lottery and sports betting winnings.
Dr Amin Adam said it was deceptive for the NDC government to claim to abolish a tax that was never collected although the law was passed in 2023.
“Betting tax that they said they have abolished, we never collected Betting Tax. So to come and tell Ghanaians that you have abolished something that you have not implemented, is to deceive the people of Ghana.”
Responding to the claims in an interview with Evans Mensah on JoyNews’ PM Express on Tuesday night, the Finance Minister said his colleague on the other side appears not to be on top of that issue.
“I don’t think he’s on top of that matter because my checks revealed that it was implemented in the second half of 2024. And my checks also reveal that year-to-date, the government of Ghana has collected over GH₵80 million from betting tax, so I don’t know what he’s talking about. It is not the fact. The fact on the ground does not support his assertion. Clearly, the betting tax was implemented,” he insisted.
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Whoever created BoG’s GH₵53bn negative equity mess should be held responsible – Dr. Atuahene
Banking consultant Richmond Atuahene has called for accountability over the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) GH₵53 billion negative equity, insisting that those responsible for the mess must be held accountable.
In an interview on Joy FM’s Midday News on Wednesday, March 12, he called for those responsible for breaching financial regulations to be summoned before Parliament to explain their actions.
“There was a law that stated they should not exceed a 5% fiscal financing threshold, yet they went as high as 60%. This is a clear violation, and they cannot claim ignorance. The Governor, the Minister, and those involved must be held accountable for their actions,” he asserted
His comment comes after the Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, advised BoG to explore internal cost-cutting measures instead of relying on taxpayer funds for a GH₵53 billion bailout to address its negative equity position.
Dr. Atuahene supported the Finance Minister’s stance that the government cannot afford to recapitalise the central bank at this time, given the nation’s fiscal constraints.
“Like the Minister said, you don’t create a mess and leave it for others to clean up. Whoever created this mess must take personal responsibility. When they engaged in the monetisation of fiscal deficits in 2021 and 2022, some of us warned them about the consequences, but they didn’t listen,” he stated.
Dr. Atuahene stressed that rather than relying on external funding, the Bank of Ghana should explore internal restructuring, cost-cutting, and asset sales, including a sale-leaseback arrangement on some of its properties, to raise the necessary capital.
He also highlighted the potential damage to Ghana’s international credibility if the Bank of Ghana remains in a financially distressed position.
“This affects Ghana’s credibility. BoG has correspondent relationships with the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve, and the African Development Bank. If it continues to operate in a capital-deficient state, international institutions may lose confidence in our financial system,” he warned.
Dr. Atuahene also criticised the central bank for insisting that it is “policy solvent,” arguing that capital solvency is more critical in this situation.
“You can claim policy solvency all you want, but if you are capital insolvent, it means you cannot function properly. BoG has been making losses year after year. They made losses in 2023, and they are making losses in 2024. How long will this continue?” he questioned.
Source: Myjoyonline.com
