By Ubaida Awudu
A statement signed by the Executive Director of the Gender Center for Empowering Development (GenCED), Esther Tawiah, says Ghana has been slipping deeper into an extreme form of violence against women by their partners, which is murder, also known as Femicide.
According to media and other reports, 25 women were murdered by abusive partners between January and August 2021. Since then, to 2023, over 100 women have been murdered by male partners.
So far in 2023, a woman has died at least every month at the hands of a man.
In most cases, other forms of abuse occurred leading up to the murder.
Unfortunately, no woman is spared, with victims from different regions and age groups.
Such as Victoria, 42, who was murdered on Friday, June 23, 2023. She was found dead in her home in Dademantse, which she shared with her husband, Seth, 50. Her husband was arrested as the murder suspect, and according to him, an argument had ensued between them leading to his wife’s death. A video of a lady in distress begging for her life appeared online on April 21 before she was shot six times by her boyfriend.
The lady was Maa Adwoa and her boyfriend, Mr. Ahmed Twumasi, a police officer inspector, over infidelity accusations in Komfo Anokye. The suspect was arraigned in 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. 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 barbershop 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.
GenCED is demanding more action from law enforcers and government agencies such as the Office of the Attorney General and the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Ghana Police.
Furthermore, ”the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection needs to spearhead programmes that ensure the safety of women and girls.”
It stated that the Inspector General needs to assure the public of what efforts and measures have been taken to ensure justice is achieved for victims and to prevent these cases from happening again.
It further stated that conversation must be held with the Mental Health Authority on the cause of the issue and how victims’ families can navigate the grief.
It further reiterated that It is time for Civil Rights Organisations, Human Rights Organisations and Activists, Women’s Rights Groups and Non-profits to show up for women in their own capacities, noting that “every woman deserves to live a full life”.