News
Stay chaste and free from sexual abuse – Gender activis
To ensure that young girls stayed chaste and free from sexual abuse, the Upper West Regional Director of the Department of Gender, Mrs Charity Banye has asked them to take responsibility of their bodies and not allow themselves to be sexually abused by men.
“You are not a refuse dump, no one has the right to abuse you at this young age in the name of relationship or under the guise of sponsoring your education so you need to take responsibility of your body,” she advised.
Mrs Banye gave this advice during an inter-generational colloquium organised by Curious Minds. It was supported by the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) – United Nations Children’s Fund Social and Behaviour Change (GBC-UNICEF SBC) Project.
The meeting which brought together pupils from basic schools across the Wa Municipality focused on “Building a better Ghana: eliminating harmful practices for sustainable development” and sought to create a platform for dialogue on ending harmful practices such as child marriage and teenage pregnancy.
The Director stated that men who had carnal knowledge of girls because they were providing for them did not have good intentions for such girls and were only taking advantage of their vulnerability to abuse them.
“Sadly, most of the teenage pregnancy cases we have been recording recently involve boys impregnating their classmates and teachers having affair with their own pupils so we have to speak out if we are put under such circumstances,” she said.
According to the director, when the boys impregnate the girls they are unable to take care of them so they leave them to their fate to become a burden on their parents.
Mrs Banye appealed to the boys to protect the girls and not sleep with them and also encouraged the youngsters to focus on their education instead of engaging in unhealthy relationships and pre-marital affairs.
For his part, the Project Manager, Mr Kingsley Obeng Kyere called for deliberate allocation of resources to promote the rights and well-being of children in Ghana.
He explained that the resources should be used to support efforts aimed at protecting children from harmful practices such as early marriage, parental negligence of duty and other harmful societal practices that prevent children from discovering and reaching their full potentials in life.
Mr Kyerej, who is also a journalist said that the sustainable development goals and other such international declarations considered the well-being of children hence it had enshrined specific clauses to promote the rights of children.
He appealed to stakeholders in child welfare issues to work together to protect the rights of children.
From Lydia Darlington Fordjour, Wa
News
Craze for x’mas shopping: Crowded markets, low patronage
Vendors of food and other wares associated with the Christmas celebration have expressed surprise at the low patronage despite the increased number of visitors to some of the major markets across the capital.
Four days to the celebration(Christmas), the markets are filled with various products ranging from food, clothing, livestock and many other stuff, but according to the vendors, patrons are doing more ‘window’ shopping.
The Spectator on visits to some of the markets in the capital, notably the Odawna, Makola, Accra Central Business District, New Town and others made similar observations as shoppers crowd them but did little in terms of purchases.
The paper also observed that majority of vendors, originally selling other wares have switched to product related to the festive season.
What it means is that there are a lot more clothes, food and vegetables, livestock and poultry, toys, firecrackers, drinks of different types and many others on display.
The markets have also stretched to the pedestrian pavement, leaving very narrow spaces for commuters to move about freely.
That, in addition to a few of the female vendors dressed in coloured attires to reflect the occasion, has heightened the euphoria, leaving the low sales as the only headache for the vendors.
Speaking with this paper, they sounded very optimistic, believing that sales would improve in the last few days to the yuletide.
According to them, there was the opportunity to sell beyond Christmas as the New Year celebration offers similar opportunity to trade the same wares.
They urged patrons to throng the markets to shop since prices were quite moderate and products affordable for all.
News
Retirement service for Elder John Ackom-Asante,3 others
Retired Deputy Editor of The Spectator, Elder John Ackom-Asante, was last Sunday honoured by the Church of Pentecost Windy Hills District in Kasoa in the Central Region, with a retirement thanksgiving service, after serving for 26 year as an Elder of the church.
He was honoured with a citation and certificate of service along with three other elders who served in the capacity for various years.
Elder Ackom-Asante was baptised at the Darkuman Central Assembly in 1979 and ordained as an Elder in 1997.
The citation read “Your selfless service, zeal, willingness to relate wholeheartedly and your desire to effect change has gone a long way to shape the lives of many people in the church and the nation over the 26 years of your dedication to the service of the Lord.”
Elder Ackom- Asante held many positions at the Darkuman Central Assembly, Obuasi in the Ashanti Region and Tema, serving in various capacities as youth and evangelism ministry leader and marriage counsellor.
He was the founding member of the Darkuman Christian Fellowship, a member of the Greater Accra Christian Fellowship; member of Bible Society of Ghana; founding member Obuasi Chapter Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship International and founding member of New Times Corporation Christian Fellowship and Chaplain, Methodist University Tema Campus 2009- 2010.
As a professional journalist, Elder Ackom-Asante combined effectively and efficiently his duty as a member and elder of the church and the demands of his profession, with admiration from the church, kith and kin, till his retirement on December
From Alhaji Salifu Abdul-Rahaman, Kasoa
