News
PWDs deserve love, right to social life
Persons living with disabilities also deserve love and have the right to live a good social life, says Ms Felicity Kyere, the Chairperson of the Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD) for New Juaben South Municipality in the Eastern Region.
According to her, many People With Disabilities (PWDs) experience no intimate relationships or face bitter ones, resulting in many remaining unmarried or becoming single parents.
Ms Kyere revealed to The Spectator in an exclusive interview that while some men initiate relationships with women with disabilities without problems, societal pressure often force these men to abandon them.
Despite significant efforts to educate the public about disability and promote inclusiveness, many PWDs still faced serious social challenges.
These issues, especially affecting women with disabilities, are often not discussed, leading to silent suffering.
She recounted an incident where a member of her federation was visited by a wealthy man. That left other tenants stunned.
Due to such challenges, some deaf individuals and those with physical disabilities choose to marry each other to avoid societal rejection but even with these unions, they hear derogatory remarks about them.
Ms Kyere emphasised the need for the Social Welfare Department of various Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to collaborate with the GFD to educate the public on these issues.
“We have a right to love, be loved, and enjoy a good social life. It’s important to remember that anyone can become disabled at any point in life,” she stated.
For her part, Ms Josephine Dzokoto, Director for Social Welfare and Community Development in New Juaben South, emphasised that addressing the social challenges of PWDs requires a multifaceted approach.
She called on all stakeholders, including families, communities, cultural leaders, and PWDs themselves, to combat the negative perceptions and ensure acceptance.
Ms Dzokoto highlighted the need for accessible structures and institutions and noted her department’s efforts in raising awareness through one-on-one interactions, small groups, media, and community information centers despite logistical challenges and assured they would continue to educate society.
She urged society to change its stereotypes about PWDs and PWDs to accept and carry themselves confidently to change negative perceptions.
News
Swallowed by the Sea! …Keta’s coastal lines, landmarks, efforts to preserve heritage
The Atlantic Ocean is no longer a distant blue horizon for the people of Keta.
It now circles around their doorsteps, uninvited, unrelenting, pulling down walls and other structures, erasing memories, and threatening lives.
Hovering precariously between the restless sea and the Keta Lagoon, this once-thriving coastal town is slowly being obliterated.
Salt water has become both a physical and metaphorical threat, dissolving the town’s past as fast as it claims its future.
Madam Aku Atitso, 62, lives in a crumbling former Prisons Service quarters – one of the few structures still standing on the eroded stretch of Queen Street.
She sits quietly at the entrance, preparing a modest breakfast for herself and her granddaughter.
The air is thick with salt and silence. “The sea took everything,” she says softly. “My husband’s nets, our mattress, our memories all gone overnight.” Her voice trembles. “This place too is dying. But it’s the last place with a roof over my head.”
A few metres away, Aunty Esinam, 79, watches the sea from a low stool beside a wooden shelter. Her eyes do not blink. “That spot,” she points, “used to be someone’s living room, a whole family lived there”.
It’s not just homes that are vanishing. Landmarks that anchored Keta’s cultural identity are disappearing one after another. The once-imposing Fort Prinzenstein, a haunting relic of the transatlantic slave trade is now more of a ruin than a monument.
the encroaching waters along Keta’s
coast.
encroaching waters along Keta’s coast
The colonial-era Bremen factory, the old cinema where generations of children once laughed at flickering black-and-white films is also gone.
Queen Street, once the town’s bustling backbone, is now a watery corridor choked with debris.
Standing atop a section of the sea defence wall, 69-year-old retired teacher Efo Kwasi Agbeko surveys what remains.
“The first police station is mostly gone,” he says, gesturing part of the building stuck in the sea sand, only ruins and a few rooms remain.
“This town is fighting, but the sea is winning,” he said.
Even the Cape St. Paul Lighthouse, Keta’s historic sentinel, leans perilously toward the water, and fishermen say holes in the shore are opening more frequently, sometimes every week.
That leaves a thick cloud of uncertainty hanging around the historic town of Keta.
Once upon a time, it was a vibrant town noted for business but currently left with ruins with a few of the residents watching in awe the sea’s devastation.
From: Geoffrey Kwame Buta, Keta, Volta Region
News
Ghanaians climax Easter with fun-filled activities
Christians around the world and other faith based groups last Monday climaxed the Easter celebration with a number of fun-filled outdoor and indoor activities.
With streets empty, fun seekers stormed church premises where picnics were held while others partied in many ways.
Others spent the day at the various beaches and music and film shows occupying the others.
velleyball competition
at the Laboma Beach
Church in Tema Community 8 engaged
in a number of activities including the
popular draught competition
At the churches, participants engaged in bible reading, football, volleyball, playing cards, table tennis, horse racing, bouncing castles, swimming and oware.
one of the picnic venues
Others played ludo, tag of war, lime and spoon, draught, music competitions among others.
The Spectator captured some of the exciting scenes around Accra-Tema for the benefit of readers.
Story & pictures by Victor A. Buxton
