News
Outmoded cultural practices: …widow recounts harrowing experience
A 37-year-old trader has shared her experience on widowhood and called on society to be more humane towards women who find themselves in that state.
She says it is unfortunate that in the Ghanaian society, anytime a husband dies regardless of the circumstances, the widow is fingered as the killer of the man by her in-laws.
“Some of them wanted to take me to my late husband’s grave at night to bathe me with water used to clean his dead body, so I ran away with my two children,” she recounted in an interview with the Spectator on condition of anonymity, on Monday.
She disclosed that the water they were going to use had been stored for three days and the bathe was ostensibly to cleanse her so that no “bad luck” could come to her.
She said when she received the message from a “good samaritan” about the intentions of some of her in-laws to take her through that ritual, she was baffled because both her family and that of her late husband had agreed that there would be no such widowhood rites because her husband died as a Christian.
“I was not going to allow myself to go through that when I heard that the water had been mixed with some substances to make me mad and even cause my death in six months (to confirm the suspicion that I killed my husband) and make my children orphans,” she said.
She questioned why any woman in her right frame of mind who was together with her man raising children and struggling to even pay bills, could take the life of her husband.
“Imagine single handedly paying bills and taking care of two children aged three and eight under this economy?” she questioned.
The trader said her husband did not own any property to even motivate her to termination his life in the first place and that their rent had even expired at the time of his death.
“He was involved in a road crash but I was shocked to hear that because I did not give him his peace of mind, that is why he became absent minded when crossing the street and was knocked down,” she said.
She said the back and forth with the family about the death of her husband, preparations towards his burial and life after, had seriously affected her mental health.
“The fact that they even wanted to take my children from me because they said I did not have the financial muscle to take care of them and also that the children belonged to her late husband’s family was most torturing” she disclosed.
She said it was interesting that she and her children were asked to pay GH¢1,000 for the funeral and when they incurred a debt the family again told her to pay about GH¢4,000 more though they did not allow her guests to eat the food they prepared for those who attended her husband’s funeral.
The woman said she had been denied access to her late husband’s shop but the family was unwilling to give any financial support to cater for the children.
She said she was never going to allow anyone to take her children from her but feared she might lose the strength to fight them along the line and wished she could get help from the public to keep her in-laws away.
“I need legal advice and action to protect my children and I” she pleaded.
From Dzifa Tetteh Tay, Tema.
The Ghana Water Justice Network (GWJN), a civil society organization, has called on the government to make water affordable and accessible to Ghanaians in the country.
The organization said making water affordable, particularly for low-income and vulnerable households, included an end to water disconnections due to inability to pay.
This was in a communiqué issued at the launch of the GWJN in Accra on the theme “Water for People, Not for Profit.”
The launch of the event was to mobilize citizens and advocate sustainable long-term solutions to Ghana’s escalating water crisis.
The statement said such disconnections violated the human right to water and disproportionately affected women and children.
“We advocate for inclusive, humane service delivery that prioritizes dignity and access to all citizens,” the statement said.
The statement urged the government to address significant investment shortfalls by fully honouring budget commitments, especially by extending services to underserved communities.
The statement urged authorities to actively include women as leaders and decision-makers in water management at all levels and address the disproportionate impacts of water scarcity on women and girls.
It also called for the establishment and enforcement of water protection zones and the integration of catchment protection plans into spatial planning schemes.
“To combat the menace of galamsey, we urge the government to seize assets and prosecute financiers and equipment owners, support community-based river guards, and deploy satellite and drone surveillance systems to combat illegal mining,” it said.
The communiqué also called on the authorities to introduce a national borehole drilling permit system, create a central groundwater database, and promote shared community borehole systems.
The statement said for countless communities across the country, access to affordable and reliable water remained out of reach.
In rural areas, peri-urban settlements, and low-income urban neighbourhoods, daily realities are marked by long queues, inconsistent supply, and rising costs.
It said at the heart of this crisis were women and children, who bear the heaviest burden when water systems fail.
This situation, the statement said, leaves far too many people behind and threatened to derail progress toward the Sustainable Development Goal six—universal and equitable access to safe and affordable water for all by 2030. -GNA
Police have retrieved all buried body parts of Joyce Akua Ampomaa, a 40-year-old trader allegedly murdered at Awutu Bentum in the Central Region.
The remains have been deposited at the Police Hospital Mortuary for preservation and autopsy, while investigations continue, Commissioner of Police Lydia Yaako Donkor, Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), said at a press briefing in Accra.
She stated that the suspect, a 25-year-old fetish priest, was arrested by the Homicide Unit of the CID after the mutilated body of the deceased was discovered in a bush on the outskirts of Awutu Bentum on March 10, 2026.
Police said the Asafoatse of Awutu Bentum reported the discovery to the Jei Krodua Police Station after the body was found with the head and both legs severed.
Investigations revealed that she had previously sought herbal treatment from the suspect in 2025 and returned on March 4, 2026, for spiritual assistance.
The suspect allegedly lured her into a bush, attacked her with a cutlass, killed her, dismembered the body, and concealed the remains.
During interrogation, the suspect allegedly admitted to the offence and disclosed that he buried the head at Mafi Avedo in the Volta Region and the legs at his residence at Awutu Bentum.
He was arraigned before the Adabraka District Court on March 13, 2026, and remanded into custody.
The court granted an exhumation order, enabling Police to retrieve the buried body parts.
On March 17, 2026, the suspect led investigators to Mafi Avedo, where the deceased’s head was exhumed.
On March 18, 2026, he led Police to Awutu Bentum for a reconstruction of the incident and to locations where the legs and destroyed mobile phones were retrieved.
At the crime scene, located on a cassava farm, the suspect allegedly identified the spot of the attack, the deposition of the body, and a pit where bloodstained items were buried.
Pathologists later exhumed the legs at his residence opposite the Chief’s Palace.
Police noted that community members had demolished the suspect’s residence and shrine, affecting retrieval of the suspected murder weapon and other exhibits.
COP Donkor commended officers for their professionalism and expressed appreciation to international partners, including INTERPOL, the Australian Federal Police, and authorities in Togo, for their collaboration. –GNA
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