The Gender Center for Empowering Development (GenCED), a civil society organisation (CSO), has expressed grave concern over the rising cases of murder (femicide) against women by their partners in the country.
It therefore called on law enforcers and government agencies such as the Office of the Attorney General, the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service, and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to spearhead programmes that would ensure the safety of women and girls.
The GenCED also called on the Inspector General of Police to assure the public on what efforts and measures being put in place to ensure justice for victims, and to prevent the cases from happening.
It said: “A conversation needs to be held with Mental Health Authority on the cause issue and how victims’ families can navigate the grief,” adding that; “it is time for civil rights organisations, human rights organisations and activists, women rights groups and non-profits to show up for women in their own capacities. Every woman deserves to live a full life!”
This was in a statement signed by Madam Esther Tawiah, the Executive Director of GenCED, a CSO working in areas of gender equality and women rights.
Giving instances of femicides that had occurred in the country, the statement said according to media and other reports, 25 women were murdered by abusive partners between January – August 2021.
“Since then to 2023, 100 women have been murdered by male partners. This year alone, a woman had died at least every month in the hands of a man. In most cases, there are other forms of abuses occurring leading up to the murder,” it stated.
The statement said unfortunately no woman was spared with victims from different regions and age groups and that Victoria, 42, who was murdered on Friday, June 23, 2023, was found dead in her home, which she shared with the husband, Seth, 50, at Dademantse.
Another one cited by the GenCED was a lady, Maa Adwoa in distress in a video who was begging for her life on April 21, before she was shot six times by her boyfriend, Ahmed Twumasi, a police inspector over infidelity accusations.
“The suspect was charged before court and pleaded not guilty on June 21, 2023. On July 13, a hearing was held with a seven-member jury where autopsy evidence was presented to the Kumasi High Court 2,” it stated.
The statement said the youngest victim was Abigail Mireku, a form two student at Akyem Nsutam who was found dead in a barber shop in Fanteakwa East District, Eastern region.
“It is alleged that on June 2, 2023, she went into the barber’s shop in the morning in her uniform to meet her then boyfriend who was seen rushing out a few minutes after she arrived. Customers discovered her body in a pool of blood tangled up with wires moments later,” it added.
The statement said: “These are just but a few names of women who are no longer alive to build a life of their own. The deaths of these women were fortunately documented by media houses, but the question is, what of those whose stories were not documented?
How many of the perpetrators have been prosecuted? What measures have government agencies mandated to protect everyone including women put in place to address this issue?”
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