News
Nadowli Kaleo teens educated on sexual, gender-based violence
A group picture of adolescents and team from UNFPA
Information sharing and education of adolescents on Sexual and Reproduction Health (SRH) at Duong, a community in the Nadowli Kaleo District of the Upper West Region has become effective due to the formation of adolescent health clubs in the area and the provision of a centre for discourse.
Hitherto, the community used to record high incidence of teenage pregnancies, early marriage or cohabitation and school dropout cases, making the community members and leaders worried as they sought for permanent ways to curb the situation.
But with the support of the United Nations Population Fund, (UNFPA) on its 8th Country Project, the Regional Focal Person for Reproductive Health who doubles as queen mother for the area, Pognaa Rosemary Bangzie, mobilised the young people into health clubs to educate them on SRH, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), among others.
The youth were constituted into two in-school and two out-of-school health clubs with each having membership of not less than 50 persons between the ages of 11 and 25 years.
Pognaa Bangzie during a monitoring visit by the UNFPA team to Duong told the Spectator that the groups met once every month to discuss issues that bothered on reproductive health and preventing unwanted pregnancies through abstinence or the use of safe family planning methods.
She said the adolescent health corner was included in the health facility she acquired for the community to accommodate health staff because the youth needed privacy to be able to consult on SRH and get the needed attention.
“This facility was made possible through benevolent persons and the USAID/Office of Transitions Initiative (USAID/ OTI) but we will need more support to furnish the place for use by the staff of the health centre and the youth as well”, she appealed.
A member of the club, 17 years old Ignatius Wienaah stated that with the provision of a permanent adolescent centre for SRH issues, adolescents in the community were better placed to protect their adolescence and pursue their heart felt goals.
A 16-year-old craftsman apprentice, Dorcas Tooresong said through the adolescent health clubs and discussions, she has learnt to abstain from pre-marital sex and also maintain good menstrual hygiene.
She explained that the girls were taken through the use of the reusable sanitary pads and how to keep themselves tidy.
A health worker, Patience Adzaho who has been working with the adolescents at the health corners expressed excitement about the provision of the adolescent corner through the initiative of the queen mother and said it had boost services to adolescents and seen more adolescents patronising the facility.
“They no longer have to mix up with the older people and make them awkward coming to us to discuss their reproductive health needs; this structure provides them with the needed privacy for whatever discussion they want to engage on,” she said.
The National Programme Officer for Gender at the UNFPA, Mr Bawa Faisal commended the community for their dedication to the welfare of young people.
From Lydia Darlington Fordjour, Wa
The Ghana Police Service has launched a manhunt for Prince Krah, a 30-year-old military officer, in connection with the brutal murder of a couple at Saki, near Tema Golf City.
A GH₵100,000 reward has been offered for any credible information leading to his arrest.The victims, identified as Ebenezer Kwabena Obiri, 45, and Mary Anim, 22, were discovered dead in their chamber-and-hall apartment on May 1, 2026.
According to police reports, both bodies bore multiple machete wounds. Investigators established that the suspect had been cohabiting with the couple prior to the incident.
Police records indicate that Mr. Obiri was last seen alive in the company of Krah on the night of April 30.
Following preliminary investigations, the Kpone Magistrate Court issued a warrant for the suspect’s arrest on May 4.Krah is described as being approximately 5.7 feet tall, dark in complexion, and of stout build.
He was last seen wearing a Lacoste shirt and jeans.Security intelligence suggests that Krah has gone into hiding and may be seeking refuge within the Kakusunanka area or the Kamina Barracks in Tamale.
They have urged the public to exercise caution and report any sightings of the suspect to the nearest police station or via the emergency toll-free lines 191 or 112.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
The minority leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has called for the immediate release of former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Food Buffed Stock Company, NAFCO over what he describe as extra judicial harassment.
In a statement by the minority leader, he noted that “I have become aware of the unwarranted arrest and incarceration of the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Food and Buffer Stock Company, Abdul-Wahab Hanan Aludiba and his wife, Faiza Seidu Wuni, by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) yesterday, 5th May, 2026.”
Mr.Afenyo-Markins described the incident as a needless and face-saving arrest adding that “followed one year of arraignment of the two accused persons with 3 others in court on charges whose weakness and frivolity were exposed by defence counsel through objections raised and upheld by the court at the Case Management Conference held in the course of the trial.”
According to him the Attorney-General, in response to the objections raised and in a bid to boost the weak prosecution he had initiated, attempted to introduce fresh witness statements without leave of the court, contrary to the rules governing the conduct of criminal proceedings in the Republic.
He added that when an objection was raised again by defence counsel led by Mr. Godfred Yeboah Dame and same was upheld by the court, the Attorney-General’s next move was to withdraw all the charges against the accused persons.
According to him “One would have thought that EOCO would step back, conduct more thorough investigations and understand the matter before deciding whether to charge the accused persons again or not.”
“However, in an impulsive and knee-jerk reaction, EOCO re-arrested Mr. Hanan Abdul-Wahab and his wife for offences unknown to even his legal team and whisked them off to the EOCO office. Strangely, they have been refused bail and have been kept in custody since yesterday, even though they were on bail granted by the court just before the charges were withdrawn,” he added.
He further noted that Hanan’s lawyers, who were at the offices of EOCO from about 11 am until 8 pm last night, were denied access to him.
This according to the Afenyo-Markin the conduct of EOCO, the Attorney-General and the Government as a whole, in harassing and torturing these innocent citizens of the land in the manner described above, very shameful, reprehensible and most unworthy of a healthy democracy that Ghana has struggled to build the past 33 years.
He therefore added that the law enforcement processes should be deployed to deal with actual wrongdoing in accordance with due process and not utilised as a propagandist machinery for the Government by arresting and detaining leading members of the opposition as a way of purporting to give meaning to the Government’s failed ORAL promise.
“I take note that the Attorney-General held a massive press conference last year, cited the Buffer Stock case as a major example of the ORAL drive, and vilified these same accused persons as having stolen money from the State when he had not even filed any charges against them,” he added.
“EOCO’s move in rearresting the accused persons after charges had been withdrawn (after a whole year of subjecting the accused persons to unnecessary assassination of their character) is clearly a desperate attempt to save the face of the Attorney-General and sustain a false impression of a continuation of the Government’s failed ORAL promise,” he noted.
“The EOCO boss, Raymond Archer, must learn to operate in accordance with due process like his predecessors used to do. That important institution of State must not be turned into a rogue outfit for harassing and torturing innocent citizens extra judicially when the Government becomes frustrated by a failure to prove offences levelled against them in a court of law, as we have seen in the Buffer Stock,” he said.
“I call on EOCO and the Attorney-General to release Hanan Abdul-Wahab and his wife, Faiza Seidu Wuni immediately.This impunity must stop,” he concluded.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
