Features
Menstruation at high cost in Ghana?
It may sound funny, astonishing, scaring, irrelevant and surprising, but in an actual sense, this is exactly what is being considered in a country with a population of over 33.4 million Ghanaians, of whom 16.4 million are women (according to the 2021 Population Census), who cannot avoid going through the mandatory menstrual cycle, popularly referred to as ‘period’, in their lifetime. Unless otherwise, which can be attributed to sickness on the part of women and, therefore, obstructs their menstrual cycles, almost all women created by the Almighty God cannot escape menstruation.
PROTEST BY WOMEN ON HIGH TAX
On June 22, Ghanaian activists, mostly women, took to the streets of Accra for what they termed, “Don’t Tax My Period” demonstration and placard march. The protest took place against the heavy taxation of menstrual hygiene products. Organised by the Women’s Wing of the Socialist Movement of Ghana (SMG) in collaboration with some Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Yebetumi and Obaasima, the demonstration was aimed at drawing Ghanaians and, for that matter, the government’s attention to the pervasive issue of period poverty.
The protestors, we are told, marched to parliament while it was in session, where the Speaker, the honorable Alban Sumani Bagbin, had to pause the on-going session to meet with their delegation over their demands. Astonished and amazed by the concerns of the protestors, Speaker Bagbin assured the protestors that their concerns would be given serious consideration with a positive response to their demands as early as possible.
SPEAKER’S REACTION TO TAXES
The protestors have vowed to return to the streets if taxes on menstrual hygiene products are not removed. Meanwhile, the Speaker, we are told, has described the taxes on sanitary pads as unfair. “Imposing taxes on sanitary pads was a cardinal sin,” says Speaker Bagbin in the front-page headline of the Daily Searchlight newspaper on June 23, 2023.
For the benefit of those, especially the opposite sex (men), who do not understand what ‘period poverty’ means. Let me summarize it in one sentence for them to be informed since my work as a journalist is simply to educate, inform and entertain the people about what is going on around them in the public space. ‘Period poverty’ is simply a situation in which women and girls from deprived backgrounds are too poor to afford the hygienic sanitary products needed to protect themselves during their menstruation.
POVERTY-STRICKEN RURAL COMMUNITIES
Just imagine the poverty-stricken rural communities across the country where people are finding it very difficult to make ends meet. Apart from the availability of foodstuffs from farm gates and bush meat, the people live in perpetual poverty as they cannot afford luxury items to supplement whatever they have to rely on. Even how to cater for their children’s education has been a major problem for parents and guardians. How much more the imposition of huge taxes of 12.5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) and 20 per cent import duty on sanitary products due to what is being termed escalating prices on the shipment of these products? Even vulnerable women and girls in the urban communities in the country are finding the cost of living very difficult to cope with the situation; how much more the rural folks?
AGI POSITION ON HIGH TAXATION
It is worthy of note that the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) is kicking against the removal of duties on imported sanitary pads, explaining that any policy by the government that seeks to remove taxes on the imported sanitary pads at the expense of local manufacturers of the products would be very detrimental to the economy. “Our young women deserve affordable sanitary pads, but granting tax waivers on imported sanitary pads is not the way to go. We caution the government not to play to the gallery, rather stay focused on its industrial transformation agenda by incentivizing local manufacturers rather than imports,” says the AGI.
In fact, there are many, including this writer, who are highly disappointed with the standpoint and argument of the AGI, describing the association as being selfish and not sympathetic to our vulnerable women and girls in society. Some are of the opinion that they should rather urge the government to remove the taxes and give contracts to local manufacturers to produce the sanitary pads so that the government would absorb the payments and distribute them free of charge to our children in schools. Some schools of thought think that advising the government not to play to the gallery means the AGI is not sympathetic to the cause of the poor and vulnerable in society.
COUNTRIES THAT SUPPLY PADS FREELY
It is a fact that in other jurisdictions in the world, especially in Africa, such as Kenya, South Africa, Botswana and Zambia, these menstruation period products are provided free of charge to these vulnerable women and school girls, just because of their essence and the fact that the majority of them cannot simply afford these products. We are being told that since most parents in the rural areas of Ghana cannot afford these sanitary pads for their children in school, most of them have resorted to the use of unorthodox and unhygienic means such as using leaves from tree branches to protect themselves from excessive bleeding. We need not subscribe to some of these unhealthy practices to the detriment of our women and the little ones.
Let us not downplay this all-important issue because women, who are an important segment of society, need to be adored and cherished because of their vital roles, especially in the upbringing of children. They must therefore be supported in all aspects of daily life so that they can fulfill their avowed duty in society with distinction. Never should they be looked down upon in matters that will promote their welfare and enhance their progress.
PARLIAMENT SENSIBILITY ON WOMEN’S PLIGHT
Our lawmakers, led by Speaker Bagbin, have shown their sensibility to the plight of this vulnerable and underprivileged group and are ready to ensure that these high taxes are not imposed on them unduly to deprive them of their womanhood. The august parliament deserves commendation, and it is the expectation of Ghanaians that the house will live up to its promise of making life comfortable for our women and girls in society.
Just as most Ghanaians have suggested, parliament must liaise with the Executive arm of government to enact laws that will encourage the support and promotion of our local industries so that they produce these sanitary pads and other menstruation products locally, so as to discourage the importation of these products and bring down taxes to the barest minimum. In so doing, our underprivileged women and girls will be relieved of the unnecessary financial burden.
The issue of menstruation for women is certainly not negotiable because it is what God has ordained, and they must endure and go through the process without hindrance whatsoever. There should be no impediment in their way whatsoever as they go through this excruciating and painful moment in their lives. We salute you all, women, for your toil and sacrifice, which are not in vain!
By Charles Neequaye
Contact email/WhatsApp of author:
HYPERLINK “mailto:ataani2000@ yahoo.com” ataani2000@yahoo.com
0277753946/0248933366
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Features
Tears of Ghanaman, home and abroad
The typical native of Sikaman is by nature a hospitable creature, a social animal with a big heart, a soul full of the milk of earthly goodness, and a spirit too loving for its own comfort.
Ghanaman hosts a foreign pal and he spends a fortune to make him very happy and comfortable-good food, clean booze, excellent accommodation and a woman for the night.
Sometimes the pal leaves without saying a “thank you but Ghanaman is not offended. He’d host another idiot even more splendidly. His nature is warm, his spirit benevolent. That is the typical Ghanaian and no wonder that many African-Americans say, “If you haven’t visited Ghana. Then you’ve not come to Africa.
You can even enter the country without a passport and a visa and you’ll be welcomed with a pot of palm wine.
If Ghanaman wants to go abroad, especially to an European country or the United States, it is often after an ordeal.
He has to doze in a queue at dawn at the embassy for days and if he is lucky to get through to being interviewed, he is confronted by someone who claims he or she has the power of discerning truth from lie.
In short Ghanaman must undergo a lie-detector test and has to answer questions that are either nonsensical or have no relevance to the trip at hand. When Joseph Kwame Korkorti wanted a visa to an European country, the attache studied Korkorti’s nose for a while and pronounced judgment.
“The way I see you, you won’t return to Ghana if I allow you to go. Korkorti nearly dislocated her jaw; Kwasiasem akwaakwa. In any case what had Korkorti’s nose got to do with the trip?
If Ghanaman, after several attempts, manages to get the visa and lands in the whiteman’s land, he is seen as another monkey uptown, a new arrival of a degenerate ape coming to invade civilized society. He is sneered at, mocked at and avoided like a plague. Some landlords abroad will not hire their rooms to blacks because they feel their presence in itself is bad business.
When a Sikaman publisher landed overseas and was riding in a public bus, an urchin who had the impudence and notoriety of a dead cockroach told his colleagues he was sure the black man had a tail which he was hiding in his pair of trousers. He didn’t end there. He said he was in fact going to pull out the tail for everyone to see.
True to his word he went and put his hand into the backside of the bewildered publisher, intent on grabbing his imaginary tail and pulling it out. It took a lot of patience on the part of the publisher to avert murder. He practically pinned the white miscreant on the floor by the neck and only let go when others intervene. Next time too…
The way we treat our foreign guests in comparison with the way they treat us is polar contrasting-two disparate extremes, one totally incomparable to the other. They hound us for immigration papers, deport us for overstaying and skinheads either target homes to perpetrate mayhem or attack black immigrants to gratify their racial madness
When these same people come here we accept them even more hospitably than our own kin. They enter without visas, overstay, impregnate our women and run away.
About half of foreigners in this country do not have valid resident permits and was not a bother until recently when fire was put under the buttocks of the Immigration Service
In fact, until recently I never knew Sikaman had an Immigration Service. The problem is that although their staff look resplendent in their green outfit, you never really see them anywhere. You’d think they are hidden from the public eye.
The first time I saw a group of them walking somewhere, I nearly mistook them for some sixth-form going to the library. Their ladies are pretty though.
So after all, Sikaman has an Immigration Service which I hear is now alert 24 hours a day tracking down illegal aliens and making sure they bound the exit via Kotoka International. A pat on their shoulder.
I am glad the Interior Ministry has also realised that the country has been too slack about who goes out or comes into Sikaman.
Now the Ministry has warned foreigners not to take the country’s commitment to its obligations under the various conditions as a sign of weakness or a source for the abuse of her hospitality.
“Ghana will not tolerate any such abuse,” Nii Okaija Adamafio, the Interior Minister said, baring his teeth and twitching his little moustache. He was inaugurating the Ghana Refugee and Immigration Service Boards.
He said some foreigners come in as tourists, investors, consultants, skilled workers or refugees. Others come as ‘charlatans, adventurers or plain criminals. “
Yes, there are many criminals among them. Our courts have tried a good number of them for fraud and misconduct.
It is time we welcome only those who would come and invest or tour and go back peacefully and not those whose criminal intentions are well-hidden but get exposed in due course of time.
This article was first published on Saturday March 14, 1998
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Features
Decisions have consequences
In this world, it is always important to recognise that every action or decision taken, has consequences.
It can result in something good or bad, depending on the quality of the decision, that is, the factors that were taken into account in the decision making.
The problem with a bad decision is that, in some instances, there is no opportunity to correct the result even though you have regretted the decision, which resulted in the unpleasant outcome.
This is what a friend of mine refers to as having regretted an unregretable regret. After church last Sunday, I was watching a programme on TV and a young lady was sharing with the host, how a bad decision she took, had affected her life immensely and adversely.
She narrated how she met a Caucasian and she got married to him. The white man arranged for her to join him after the marriage and processes were initiated for her to join her husband in UK. It took a while for the requisite documentation to be procured and during this period, she took a decision that has haunted her till date.
According to her narration, she met a man, a Ghanaian, who she started dating, even though she was a married woman.
After a while her documents were ready and so she left to join her husband abroad without breaking off the unholy relationship with the man from Ghana.
After she got to UK, this man from Ghana, kept pressuring her to leave the white man and return to him in Ghana. The white man at some point became a bit suspicious and asked about who she has been talking on the phone with for long spells, and she lied to him that it was her cousin.
Then comes the shocker. After the man from Ghana had sweet talked her continuously for a while, she decided to leave her husband and return to Ghana after only three weeks abroad.
She said, she asked the guy to swear to her that he would take care of both her and her mother and the guy swore to take good care of her and her mother as well as rent a 3-bedroom flat for her. She then took the decision to leave her husband and return to Ghana.
She told her mum that she was returning to Ghana to marry the guy in Ghana. According to her, her mother vigorously disagreed with her decision and wept.
She further added that her mum told her brother and they told her that they were going to tell her husband about her intentions.
According to her, she threatened that if they called her husband to inform him, then she would commit suicide, an idea given to her by the boyfriend in Ghana.
Her mum and brother afraid of what she might do, agreed not to tell her husband. She then told her husband that she was returning to Ghana to attend her Grandmother’s funeral.
The husband could not understand why she wanted to go back to Ghana after only three weeks stay so she had to lie that in their tradition, grandchildren are required to be present when the grandmother dies and is to be buried.
She returned to Ghana; the flat turns into a chamber and hall accommodation, the promise to take care of her mother does not materialise and generally she ends up furnishing the accommodation herself. All the promises given her by her boyfriend, turned out to be just mere words.
A phone the husband gave her, she left behind in UK out of guilty conscience knowing she was never coming back to UK.
Through that phone and social media, the husband found out about his boyfriend and that was the end of her marriage.
Meanwhile, things have gone awry here in Ghana and she had regretted and at a point in her narration, was trying desperately to hold back tears. Decisions indeed have consequences.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
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