News
12 teachers trained on Gender-Based Violence in schools
Twelve teachers from 10 schools in the Greater Accra Region have been trained as gender advocates to help fight Gender-Based Violence (GBV) within their schools.
This training formed part of the “Young voices matter: empowering boys and girls in the fight against GBV” project, led by Regina Asamoah, an International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) Impact Awardee.
It covered essential aspects of GBV, including understanding its dynamics, recognising psychological impacts, leveraging technology for intervention, and employing age-appropriate communication strategies.
Speaking at the event, ACP (Rtd.) Dr. Patience Quaye, a U.S. Embassy Ghana GBV Champion and Fellow of Missing Children Ghana, said gender-based violence was a crime against humanity, hence the need to educate learners, support survivors, and ensure that perpetrators face justice.
She also addressed the potential for teachers to be perpetrators and highlighted the importance for school to have policies and procedures for reporting and addressing such incidents.
A Clinical Psychologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS), Dr Dzifa Abrah Attah, guided the teachers in identifying psychological traits in learners that may indicate they are experiencing GBV and taught them how to provide emotional and psychological support.
Dr Attah encouraged teachers to familiarise themselves with their school’s mental health resources, consider referrals, follow up on them, and provide academic accommodations during students’ recovery.
Prof. Samuel Kojo Kwofie, Head of the Biomedical Engineering Department at the University of Ghana, educated teachers on the use of technology to address Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
Prof. Kwofie said there were Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV), which includes cyber stalking, cyberbullying, doxxing (searching for and publishing private or identifying information about a particular individual on the internet, typically with malicious intent), cyber mob attacks, image-based abuse, online impersonation, sextortion (a form of online blackmail where the typically unknown offender creates a fake online profile and tricks or coerces the victim into sending sexual images of themselves), online harassment, revenge porn.
TFGBV is a kind of digital violence committed and amplified through the use of information and communications, technologies or digital spaces against a person based on gender.
“Many of our students may be experiencing TFGBV, and we need to be vigilant, especially given that almost every student has a phone and spends a significant amount of time online,” he said.
Prof. Kwofie advocated the development of locally relevant apps tailored to address the specific manifestations of GBV in schools.
By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu
A 30-year-old man has been sentenced to 25 years imprisonment with hard labour by the Bekwai Circuit Court for his role in a 2022 robbery at a mining site at Manso Akwasiso in the Ashanti South Region.
The convict, Dominic Ofori, also known as Fanta, was arrested on 16th February 2026 after years on the run. He pleaded guilty before the Bekwai Circuit Court to robbery contrary to Section 149 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 Act 29, and was accordingly sentenced to 25 years imprisonment with hard labour.
On March 20, 2022, the Manso Adubia District Police received intelligence that a group of armed men from Manso Abodom were planning to attack a mining site at Manso Akwasiso to rob the owner of gold concentrate. Acting on the information, police mounted a coordinated operation and laid an ambush at the site.
At about 5:30 pm the same day, four-armed men arrived at the site, fired indiscriminately, and robbed the miners of their gold concentrate. The police team on surveillance intervened, resulting in an exchange of gunfire.
Three of the suspects, Abu Abubakar, Musah Latif, and Gideon Takyi, sustained gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead on arrival at St Martins Catholic Hospital at Agroyesum. Dominic Ofori escaped at the time but was later arrested and put before the court.
The Ashanti South Regional Police Command has assured the public of its continued commitment to combating violent crimes and bringing offenders to justice.
The Ashanti Regional Police Command has arrested 45-year-old Isaac Boafo, also known as “Duabo King,” for allegedly publishing false news intended to cause fear and panic.
Police said the arrest follows a viral TikTok video in which Boafo claimed that four officers at the Central Police Station in Kumasi engaged in inappropriate conduct with commercial sex workers during night patrols in Asafo.
Officers from the Police Intelligence Directorate (Ashanti Region) apprehended Boafo after receiving intelligence about the video.
During questioning, he admitted to creating the video to attract views and engagement online, and acknowledged that he could not prove the allegations.
Boafo also admitted making comments about the President of the Republic for content purposes and could not defend those statements.
He has been formally charged and is in detention as investigations continue.
The Ashanti Regional Police have warned the public against publishing or sharing false information on social media, noting that such acts can cause fear, panic, and damage reputations.
They said anyone found engaging in similar conduct will face legal action.
By: Jacob Aggrey
