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Stop abusing girls under Pretext of showing love
Ms Juliana Abbeyquaye
The Acting Eastern Regional Director of the Department of Gender, Ms Juliana Abbeyquaye has advised the youth, especially young girls not to allow themselves to be sexually abused in the name of being shown love.
According to her, many of them were being sexually abused under the pretext of being shown love by their perpetrators who violently attack them.
She indicated that “the society we live in has created a perception that when someone shows an act of love or gives you a gift, you must also return the gesture. This has led to many young children, especially young girls allowing themselves to be abused by their perpetrators.”
Ms Abbeyquaye gave the advice in an exclusive interview after a National Youth Dialogue organised by the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) through its youth wing, Youth Action Movement (YAM) in Koforidua.
The dialogue on the theme: “ Promoting Gender Equality: Mobilising Youth Against Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in Communities, brought together stakeholders, policy makers, duty bearers, traditional and religious leaders and youth together.
It was aimed to empower young people to take a stand against Sexually Gender- Based Violence in society.
It was also purposed to create a platform to deliberate on SGBV issues and the way forward as a country to eliminate its practices.
Ms Abbeyquaye reiterated the need to educate the youth, especially young girls to be aware of their rights and sgbvs and be able to detect whether they were being sexually abused or not.
“Most girls do not know about sgbvs and it has been the reason why a lot of them have been abused because their perpetrators make them feel they love them and have to beat or rape them as a sign of love,” she stated.
She added “the fact that you are in a relationship with someone and you buy things for the person, does not mean you should abuse the person. We have to create awareness on the fact that someone does not have to abuse you because he or she gives you a gift.”
Ms Abbeyquaye indicated that SGBV were not taught enough “and this explains how a boy can just hit a girl’s buttocks and go free.”
She said such acts were abuses and stated that creating awareness among the youth, especially young girls, would empower them to stand up for themselves and be assertive as well as speak up when they are engaged in such abuses.
That, she said would help to reduce the high number of cases on SGBV in communities in the country, especially when Ghana was slated to end SGBV by 2030.
She stated the need for all stakeholders to build synergies and put in more efforts and logistics to create awareness among the youth and community members to reduce the number of cases on SGBV in the country.
For her part, the Focal Gender Person for PPAG, Ms Naadu Adico urged stakeholders to use social media to drive social change and end sgbvs in an effort to create awareness on the issue.
She said the social media platform has broken the bureaucracy to reach duty bearers and has made it possible to break the silence and share experiences as well as find solidarity for victims of SGBV.
She said through social media, a lot of people have received justice for the less privileged by enabling or amplifying their voices to seek for change.
She called on stakeholders to create more awareness among the youth and community members and guide them to use social media to propagate issues of SGBV issues, while respecting community guidelines and not infringing on other people’s rights.
A pupil of Nana Kwaku Boateng Basic School, Benedicta Takyi for her part, explained that the dialogue has increased her knowledge on the subject matter, adding that previously she thought some abuses were normal.
From Ama Tekyiwaa Ampadu Agyeman, Koforidua
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GEXIM deepens relations with US EXIM Bank
A management team of the Ghana Export – Import Bank (GEXIM) led by the Acting Chief Executive, Sylvester Mensah met with the leadership of the Export–Import Bank of the United States (US EXIM) on Wednesday April 23, 2025 in Washington DC, United States of America.
The Acting President and Chairman of US EXIM, Mr. James C. Cruse and Vice President, International Relations, Ms. Isabel Galdiz received the GEXIM delegation, which included Deputy CEO for Banking, Mr. Moses Klu Mensah and Head of International Cooperation, Mr. Jonathan Christopher Koney at the headquarters of US EXIM.
The meeting offered the GEXIM team the opportunity to share the strategic direction of the Bank in line with the resetting agenda of the President of the Republic, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama for the repositioning of the Ghanaian economy into an export-led one by providing the requisite investment to Ghanaian businesses.
Mr. James C. Cruse expressed US EXIM’s eagerness to deepen its existing relations with GEXIM and proposed the signing of a new Cooperative Framework Agreement following the expiration of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2019 to utilize US EXIM’s medium term loan guarantees to procure machinery by GEXIM for qualified Ghanaian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
Mr.Sylvester Mensah thanked the Acting President and Chairman of US EXIM for hosting the GEXIM delegation and reaffirmed the Ghanaian government’s commitment to strengthening trade and investment between Ghana and its global partners for economic transformation of Ghana with GEXIM playing a pivotal role.
The two teams will be meeting on the sidelines of the 2025 US EXIM Annual Conference on 29th and April 30, 2025 to explore possible areas of collaboration and matching Ghanaian businesses to American companies. The meeting ended with an exchange of gifts.
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Many SOEs have been used as mere instruments for personal wealth accumulation –Pres.Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has expressed concern over the misuse of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) for personal financial gain by individuals in leadership positions.
Speaking during a meeting with Chief Executives of specified entities under the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) on Thursday, March 13, the President directly attributed the dire state of SOEs to their leadership, accusing chief executives, management teams, and governing boards of prioritising personal enrichment over organisational efficiency.
He pointed to bloated budgets, unjustified allowances, and unnecessary expenditures as factors draining public funds while SOEs continue to rely on government bailouts.
“Many SOEs have been used as mere instruments for personal wealth accumulation by appointees. The chief executives, management, and boards of these enterprises are responsible for this situation. Some SOEs have become perennial loss-makers, draining public funds with bloated budgets, unjustified allowances, and unnecessary expenditures while relying on government bailouts as if entitled to them. Many of these entities are at their lowest point in the entire history of the Fourth Republic,” he said.
President Mahama further noted that many SOEs have been plagued by inefficiencies, corruption, and mismanagement, leading to consistent financial losses. He cited the 2023 State Ownership Report by the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), which highlighted systemic inefficiencies and wasteful expenditures within these entities.
He therefore reaffirmed his commitment to reforming under-performing SOEs and ensuring they serve national interests.
He warned that loss-making SOEs will no longer be tolerated and will either be merged, privatised, or closed.
“I will assess you based on your performance. If you do not align with the pace of the reset agenda, you may be asked to step aside. If that adds to the horror movie, so be it,” he added.
Source: Myjoyonline.com
