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‘Don’t allow men to abuse you sexually’
Mrs Banye
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 young girls to take responsibility for 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 needs, so you need to take responsibility for your body”, she stated.
Mrs Banye stated this during an inter-generational colloquium by Curious Minds Ghana under the UNICEF supported by the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and the 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.
The Director stated that when they impregnated the girls, they were unable to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of the girls and leave them to their fate to become a burden on their parents.
“Those of you who say ‘he likes me’, ‘he says I am the most beautiful girl in the class’ and your head becomes swollen, please he is only using you, very soon he will dump you for another person because you are way too young for this kind of engagement at this age”, she emphasized.
She explained that it was necessary for girls to speak out when they were been abused regardless of the status of the abuser in the family of the victim in order to avoid the attitude of shielding people who harmed young girls.
Mrs Banye appealed to boys to protect the girls and not sleep with them, encouraging the youngsters to focus on their education instead of unhealthy relationships.
For his part, the Project Manager, Mr Kingsley Obeng Kyere called for a deliberate allocation of resources to promote the rights and wellbeing of children in Ghana.
Mr Kyerej who is also a journalist stated that the sustainable development goals and other such international declarations considered the well-being of children hence had enshrined specific clauses to promote the rights of children.
From Lydia Darlington Fordjour, Wa
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Focus on more pressing issues like Galamsey, not hate speech – Ellen Ama Daaku to Mahama
An aide to former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia,Ellen Ama Daaku has advised President John Dramani Mahama to shift his attention from social media hate speech to more urgent national issues such as illegal mining.
Speaking in an interview, she noted that the President’s recent comments about tracking the IP addresses of people who spread hate speech were unnecessary.
According to her, President Mahama must first define what he considers to be hate speech before seeking to punish people for it.
Ms. Daaku argued that the President himself had benefitted from hate speech and social media attacks in the past when he was in opposition.
She said even during his time in government, he described his opponents and their tribesmen in unpalatable terms, which later drew complaints from former President Nana Akufo-Addo to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
She stressed that harsh criticism of leaders on social media should not automatically be considered hate speech, adding that former leaders, including former President Nana Akufo-Addo had all been subjected to it.
“He is only feeling what Nana Akufo-Addo went through for eight years,” she remarked.
While acknowledging the need to regulate misconduct online, Ms. Daaku insisted that going after social media activists should not be a priority.
She noted that many political activists, including herself, had been insulted and attacked online but never called for arrests.
She concluded that President Mahama should focus his energy on solving pressing problems such as galamsey and the economy instead of concentrating on critics on social media.
By: Jacob Aggrey
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Prof Alidu Seidu files nomination for Tamale Central seat
The newly elected parliamentary candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Tamale Central, Prof Alidu Seidu, has submitted his nomination forms to the Electoral Commission.
As of 10:00 a.m. today, he was the only person who had filed to contest the seat.
Nomination of candidates will close at the end of the day.
Associate Professor and Head of the Political Science Department at the University of Ghana Legon, Prof. Alidu Seidu won the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary primaries in the Tamale Central constituency with a landslide victory.
The elections, supervised by the party’s Elections and IT Directorate in the Northern Region, saw Prof. Seidu poll 840 votes out of the total valid ballots cast.
His closest contender, Lawyer Hanan Gundadow Abdul-Rahaman, secured 536 votes.
The other aspirants could not make significant gains, with Dr. Seidu Fiter obtaining 44 votes, Aliu Abdul-Hamid 23 votes, and the rest recording fewer than 10 votes each.
In all, 1,500 ballots were cast, with 6 ballots rejected and 7 spoilt ballots recorded.
The results were signed and declared by Dr. Arnold Mashud Abukari, NDC Northern Regional Director of Elections and IT.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) held parliamentary primaries in Tamale Central to choose a candidate for the upcoming by-election following the death of the sitting Member of Parliament, Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed. Dr. Mohammed, who also served as Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, tragically died in a military helicopter crash in the Adansi Akrofuom District on August 6, 2025, alongside seven others.
His passing left the Tamale Central seat vacant, as required by Ghana’s 1992 Constitution.
The Electoral Commission has scheduled the by-election for September 30, 2025. While the NDC moved quickly to open nominations and vet aspirants, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) announced it would not contest the seat, citing the need to respect the somber circumstances and promote national unity.
By: Jacob Aggrey
