News
Teenage girls abuse emergency contraceptives in Wa
Mrs Charity Banye, Director at the Department of Gender in the Upper West Region has expressed concern on the excessive use of emergency contraceptive pills by most teenage girls in the Wa Municipality as permanent family planning method.
She said that wrongful use of the drug could have catastrophic effect on those who patronised it without recourse to professional advice from qualified health personnel.
“As its name suggests, it is an emergency pill that is taken after accidental sexual relations such as rape, defilement or unplanned acts to prevent unplanned pregnancies not a drug that is taken after every sexual act.
“Most teenage girls in the Wa Municipality abuse the drug instead of abstaining from sex or seeking permanent family planning solutions. This could pose threats to their health,” she warned.
Mrs Banye stated this at a teenage mothers’ leadership conference at Wa recently when she took her turn to address the participants on sexual education.
The Programme which was at the instance of the LifeAgain, a non-governmental organisation in the region brought together some 120 beneficiary teenage mothers of the organisation to share challenges, ideas and success stories after having received assistance from the NGO to continue with the life that was truncated by unplanned pregnancy and childbirth.
The Director stated that the best method for the girls to stay safe from sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies was to abstain from sexual relations and rather channel those energies wasted in unfruitful relationships to their studies.
“As the name indicates, it is a family planning method; what family are you planning at this age and with whom, that boy who hides behind the building on the blind side of your parents? You need to place more value on yourself and stay chaste”, she advised.
She stated that there had been instances where men had denied pregnancies because they claimed the ladies were given emergency pills but the ladies had to bear the responsibility of the child alone.
“Emergency contraceptive pills could interfere with your menstrual cycle and also cause other side effects which can affect your studies if you are a student or your entire day if you are engaged in other forms of activities”, she said.
She used the opportunity to appeal to the young ladies to take care of their bodies but not allow males dose them with emergency pills after sexual relations that could have been prevented.
The Wa Municipal Girl-Child Education Officer, Pognaa Amamata Mumuni lamented that pre-marital sex had become frequent among the young, particularly teenagers and appealed to them to stay away from such acts.
She stated that sex was the preserve of married couples which was created by God for a purpose in the marriage so it was unhealthy for young girls to participate in it when they were still dependent on their parents.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Organisation, Ms Saudatu Mohammed also appealed to beneficiaries of the programme put the help they had received from her her NGO to good use.
From Lydia Darlington Fordjour, Wa
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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