Hot!
Bathing after rape destroys evidence – DOVVSU
● Supt. Setina Aboagye speaking at the forum
Evidence is the necessary ingredient needed in prosecution to establish one’s guilt or otherwise at the law court.
To this end, the Western Regional Commander of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Setina Aboagye has asked people not to have their bath when they are raped or defiled but rather, they should rush to the police station to lodge complaint against the perpetrators of the crime for investigation to be conducted.
“We need evidence to be able to prove our cases in court. We have been telling victims of rape and defilement that when you are raped you are not supposed to have your bath because we are interested in the torn panties, the beads and whatever.
“These things serve as evidence and help us to build our cases and secure successful prosecution in court,” she stressed.
Supt. Aboagye said these during a media engagement organised by Twin Cities in Sustainable Partnership Project(TCSPP) as part of the campaign for youth-oriented and gender sensitive topics at Sekondi, in the Western Region.
She encouraged the media to educate the public on the importance of evidence and that without it, “there’s nothing we can do to push the case to court.”
Supt. Aboagyetold the journalists that another challenge with case prosecution was that, people reported cases and later came back to withdraw them “but some cases cannot be settled at home.”
She cautioned the public to desist from that because domestic violence cases were not to be settled at home and that offenders would be arrested.
A major challenge, she noted, was a situation “where a father who sleeps with a daughter or a step-father who impregnates a step-daughter is imprisoned; this eventually brings untold hardship to both the victim and her mother.”
The coordinator said, issues of domestic violence affected people’s emotions and that professionals would be needed to seek the victim’s consent before taking the case to court, especially when dealing with a case of spousal assault.
With such cases, she said, the victim would feel shy to stand in the open court to tell the whole world that her husband assaulted her.”
Supt. Aboagye told participants that the unit (DOVVSU) had done well in rescuing victims and cited a case at Sunyani where a girl was rescued and was now a graduate professional teacher.
DOVVSU, she indicated, had professionals, who also provided counselling for victims to access medical treatment.
“At DOVVSU, when victims come, we have to listen to them attentively and afterwards determine whether it is within our purview to handle such cases otherwise we refer such cases to the appropriate quarters for action to be taken,” she said.
From Clement Adzei Boye, Sekondi
President John Dramani Mahama has commissioned four career diplomats as ambassador-designates to represent Ghana in four countries.
The commissioning ceremony took place on Friday, October 16, 2026.
The new envoys are Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo, Ambassador-Designate to Angola; His Excellency Louis Kwame Obeng, Ambassador-Designate to Qatar; Her Excellency Evelyn Korantemaa Ofosu-Amable, Ambassador-Designate to Israel; and His Excellency Jedidiah Reuben Adogla, Permanent Representative-Designate to Switzerland.
President Mahama charged them to advance Ghana’s national interests through strategic partnerships, economic diplomacy, investment mobilization, and expanded access to international markets.
He said Ghana’s diplomatic engagements must deliver tangible economic benefits, create jobs, and strengthen the country’s standing on the international stage.
The four envoys are career diplomats with over 27 years of experience.
On behalf of her colleagues, Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo thanked the President for the confidence reposed in them and pledged their commitment to emulate his leadership and deliver on the mandate given to them.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
The professor who spends his days exploring the intricacies of African languages found himself at the centre of a different kind of lesson on Friday, October 2, 2026. 
This time, there were no lecture notes, academic arguments or university classrooms. Instead, there was the weight of tradition, the rhythm of a community celebration and the solemnity of an oath at a royal palace.
Professor Ọbádélé Kambon, a full Professor of African Linguistics at the University of Ghana, was enstooled as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene of Akuapem Mampong in the Eastern Region in a ceremony that brought academia and traditional authority together.
For the professor, the occasion was more than a new title. It was a moment that connected his academic interests in African languages and indigenous knowledge with the living traditions of an Akan community.
The day’s events unfolded through a series of customary observances. Kambon was first taken to the compounds of the Ɔkyeamehene and Gyasehene, where the preparations for his installation continued.
Then came the application of hyire, the white kaolin powder associated with traditional rites.
With the customary proceedings underway, the new chief was lifted onto the shoulders of celebrants and carried along the main thoroughfare of Akuapem Mampong.
The procession transformed the streets into a public stage for a ceremony rooted in the community’s traditional institutions.
There was something striking about the image, a university professor, accustomed to the measured language of academic discourse, being carried through the town in a display of traditional recognition.
Yet the celebration was not complete with the procession.
A ram was sacrificed at the Mamponghene’s compound before Kambon was taken to the palace, to swear the oath associated with his new offices.
The ceremony brought him formally into his roles as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene.
Beyond the colourful proceedings, the titles themselves carry layers of historical meaning.
Kambon in his research explores the historical connections between Apagya and Akan political and military organisation.
Accounts cited in his work linked Apagya to an asafo, or military company, while historical writing traces an Apagya stool in Asante to the reign of Opoku Ware I in the eighteenth century.
These historical associations offer a glimpse into the institutions that have shaped Akan society over generations, although they do not automatically define the precise responsibilities of the office in Akuapem Mampong.
Kambon’s own professional life reflects a similar interest in preserving and examining African knowledge.
His work encompasses Akan language structure, naming practices across the Black world, proverbs and indigenous intellectual traditions.
Through Abibitumi, the platform he founded, he also promotes language learning, scholarship and cultural engagement.
But tradition was only one part of the story that day.
When the formal ceremony gave way to a reception, the occasion expanded into a celebration of three milestones: Kambon’s enstoolment, his promotion to full professor and his daughter Ama’s admission to the University of Ghana.
The gathering therefore carried a personal significance that went beyond the honours bestowed on one man. 
It celebrated professional advancement, the continuation of family aspirations and a connection to cultural heritage.
For a father, seeing a daughter gain admission to the same university where he holds a distinguished academic position offered another reason to celebrate.
For the professor, the moment placed family achievement alongside his own professional and traditional milestones.
Kambon had already established a place in the traditional life of Akuapem Mampɔn through an earlier installation as Banmuhene Kyidɔmhene, recorded in 2017.
His latest enstoolment adds another chapter to that relationship.
In Akuapem Mampɔn, the day brought together the university, the palace and the family table in one celebration. And for Kambon, the journey from the lecture room to the traditional procession showed how scholarship, cultural responsibility and family achievement could converge in a single memorable occasion.
By Enoch Ntiamoah Siaw
SKIP THE QUEUE, TAP THE NEWS
You can now read the Ghanaian Times and The Spectator newspapers from the comfort of your device via TimesNewsPlus.
Join our WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
