Editorial
Intensify Conversations About Teenage Pregnancy
Dear Editor,
There’s a compound house in my community that has become the talk of the town because of something very worrying.
In this house, teenage girls are giving birth almost at the same time as their mothers. It is as if childbirth has become a race between generations. While one woman is in labour, her teenage daughter is also preparing to deliver. It is not just one case; it has happened again and again.
While some of these girls are still in school, others have dropped out. Their mothers, who should be guiding them, are now sharing maternity stories with them.
What’s even more troubling is how these girls speak about motherhood. When they argue with their fellow teenagers, they brag about having children, asking questions like, “How many chickens do you rear?” — as if babies are trophies or livestock.
It is heartbreaking to see motherhood turned into a competition, not a responsibility.
This situation raises serious questions. What is happening in our homes? Where is the guidance, the protection, the conversation? How can a mother and daughter both be nursing newborns at the same time?
I’m not here to judge, but to call for reflection. We need to talk about teenage pregnancy — not just in statistics, but in real-life stories like this.
We need parents to step up, schools to educate, and communities to care. If we don’t act now, we’ll keep seeing babies raising babies. And the cycle will continue.
Belinda Appiah
Dansoman
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Dear Editor,
I write to appeal to the Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMTL) to put some of their buses on the Kasoa–Circle route to ease the challenges passengers face every day.
It might interest you to know that going to and from Kasoa is no child’s play. Sadly, it appears we have been left to our fate and at the mercy of greedy ‘trotro’ drivers who employ various tactics to extort money from passengers.
One of the means they usually employ is that at the station, they’ll tell passengers they are not going to Kasoa. However, when you join these vehicles, they take passengers to a point and start calling for new passengers to a different destination. It continues like that until they reach Kasoa. At all the new stops, they collect fresh fares from passengers.
So, it is not true that they are not going to Kasoa — the only reason they do that is to take more money from passengers.
By this behaviour, one ends up spending about GH¢20 for a journey that should cost around GH¢11, and the same amount on the return trip.
This behaviour also results in long queues at the stations at night, giving robbers and pickpockets a field day as they mingle with passengers struggling for transport and end up stealing from them.
I want to plead with the Metro Mass management to put buses on this route to reduce the inconvenience we go through after a day’s work.
The management could also devise ways to make their operations more convenient and reliable, and must consider setting specific times so that passengers would know when buses arrive and when they depart.
Kwesi Pino
Kasoa
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Dear Editor,
I write with deep concern about a safety hazard and the dangers commuters are exposed to, especially those who walk in the area at night.
Along one of the busy roads in the capital — the Neoplan Station stretch of the ‘Accra Dubai’ road — lie several culverts with their metal coverings removed, leaving behind gaping holes that endanger everyone who uses the stretch.
It is a danger to commuters who walk around the area. As a regular visitor to that area, I find it very disturbing. In fact, a gaze into the drain can make one feel dizzy — it is very deep.
These are very common sights from the Railway Crossing area to the Awudome Cemetery area, bringing to the fore the activities of scrap dealers who are mostly blamed for the disappearance of the coverings.
They are dangerous and easy to miss. Children walking to school, the elderly, and even motorists risk serious injury if nothing is done.
This is not just a matter of inconvenience; it is a matter of life. We have seen too many cases where a simple oversight leads to irreversible harm.
A child could fall in. A motorcyclist could swerve and crash. A pedestrian could be injured in the dark. These are preventable tragedies, and we must treat them as urgent.
We cannot wait for disaster before we act. I urge the relevant authorities to inspect such areas, replace missing covers, and prioritise public safety. A simple fix today could save a life tomorrow. Let’s not look away — let’s fix what’s broken before it breaks someone.
Kelvin Acheampong
Dansoman
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