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Remove tax onsanitary pads – STMA Director of Edu.
● Mrs Sally Coleman addressing the participants
“I am advocating the total abolition of any tax imposed on the importation of sanitary pad so that it becomes affordable for parents to buy for their children,” the Metropolitan Director of Education, Sekondi -Takoradi, Mrs Sally Nelly Coleman, has proposed.
She explained that, the new policy would free girls from “hungry” men who exploited them for sex due to poverty.
“My plea is that the government should make it free for them. Because at times you meet the girl and you ask what made you pregnant, she will sadly say I was in need of sanitary pads.” Mrs Coleman added.
She made the suggestion at a meeting with journalists as part of stakeholders engagement on youth -oriented and gender-sensitive topics in line with the Twin Cities in Sustainable Partnership Project (TCSPP), held at Sekondi in the Western Region.
“One worrying aspect nowadays is that, the children who are in their menstrual ages find it very difficult and that some parents don’t even buy their sanitary pads for them. And it will shock you that some unscrupulous men are in the habit of providing just a sanitary pad and take advantage of these innocent children,” she said.
Mrs Coleman indicated that, she was not asking for more if the government could provide sanitary pads free of charge for girls whose parents could not provide any.
She told the journalists that her suggestion was not meant to encourage teenage pregnancy, noting that, “some students have taken it as a yardstick or as a field day and they are doing their own thing.”
The Education Director urged parents and other stakeholders including social workers team -up with the Ghana Education Service, and the Ghana Health Service to help these school children who now carried pregnancy without any bad feeling.
“The Bible tells us that there’s time for everything. Time to study, time to work, time to marry and the time to have your children. But, they shouldn’t use their time to study to get pregnant”.
Mrs Coleman noted that some parents were shirking their responsibilities, resulting in the kind of situation society found itself and pleaded with caregivers “to sit up if the child needs food, please do it.”
“This is what is happening, and, as leaders in society, we must think outside the box to help our school children,” she said.
The GES, she said, had intensified counseling units to help curb teenage pregnancies.
Mrs Coleman stressed “That is why we are here. All of us should put our minds together and see how best we can solve it. We are not here to talk about provision of infrastructure. We’ve spoken about these things for far too long. There is attitude that is eating up academic performance.
“We need to help the children and change such attitude. For, today they are children but tomorrow, they are going to lead this country and what kind of leadership skills are we giving them to run the system?”
The Western Regional Coordinator of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVSSU), Superintendent Setina Aboagye, also indicated that some parents were failing to supply the necessities of life like maintenance and also re-fuse to take care of their children.
From Clement Adzei Boye, Sekondi
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) says it will deploy teams of Public Health Officers, members of its Sanitation Taskforce, and labourers, including sweepers and janitors, across all sub-metros to support the third National Sanitation Day exercise.
It explained that these teams will be equipped with waste collection trucks, tippers, and other tools to help with desilting, refuse collection, and transporting waste to approved disposal sites.
The AMA reminded residents that failing to comply with the sanitation directive or refusing to participate in communal labour is an offence.
It said offenders risk a fine of up to 100 penalty units, imprisonment between 30 days and six months, or both, with repeat offenders liable to additional daily penalties.
It urged all residents, traders, transport operators, market women, shop owners, landlords, tenants, and businesses to actively participate in the exercise.
The AMA said it counts on everyone’s collective responsibility to keep Accra clean, liveable, and resilient, especially as the city approaches Christmas and the New Year.
By: Jacob Aggrey
The MP for Old Tafo, Vincent Assafuah, has criticised what he describes as an attempt by the President to influence the work of Parliament in the ongoing debate over the future of the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
On his facebook post in response to recent developments, Assafuah argued that those who previously claimed he did not understand the separation of powers must now reconsider their position.
He noted that the current situation shows the President trying to direct Parliamentarians on how to carry out their duties, a move he believes challenges the very principles those critics defended.
Assafuah urged the President to restrain the Deputy Attorney General, Justice Sai, following the widespread public backlash over moves linked to the possible scrapping of the OSP.
He stressed that the case currently before the court should be withdrawn, describing it as unnecessary.
He referenced Section 4 of the OSP Act, explaining that all prosecutions by the Office of the Special Prosecutor must be authorised by the Attorney General, whose powers he described as sacrosanct.
By: Jacob Aggrey
