Gender-Based Violence, Bono Regional Minister Set Up Seven Member Committee to End Spousal Killing.

The Bono Regional Minister, Honourable Justina Owusu Banahene has taken action to eliminate spousal killing which is gender-based violence in the region.

Spousal killing may sound strange but the trend seems to be on the upsurge. The dream of every couple after marriage vows is marital happiness.
Unfortunately, on many occasions, these marriages turn sour with some spouses being killed by their lovers.

Madam Justina Owusu Banahene commissioned a seven-member committee to monitor the said, she was recently been overwhelmed by the huge number of incidences of domestic violence within the region including homicide.

She admitted that domestic violence in the region is on the rise and something must be done about it. She said some spouses especially women have suffered machete wounds, the earlier something is done about it the better.

The Regional Minister said the right to life, freedom of thought and expression and to equality before the law is being compromised by acts of gender-based violence.

She said widespread violence against humanity especially spousal violence or homicide is one of many realities that exacerbate women’s subjugation in Ghanaian society.

In a consultative meeting, organised by the Bono Regional Coordinating Council (BRCC) on the upsurge of homicide and spousal murder issues in the Bono region.

The recent upsurge in reports of homicide, spousal and other gender-based violence cases in the Bono region accounted for the meeting attended by Heads and Officers from Social Welfare, Community Development, Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), Attorney General’s Department, Peace Council, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Ghana Police Service, Department of Children and Christian Council.

Mad. Justina Owusu Banahene further stated that Child marriage is another form of gender-based violence and a human rights violation that robs girls of their right to health, secure life and the right to choose when and whom to marry.

She disclosed that some of the causes of spousal murder gender base violence can largely be narrowed down to inequality for women and the associated violence and harmful and controlling aspects of masculinity that result from patriarchal power imbalances embedded in much of Ghanaian traditional and cultural beliefs.

According to the minister, these imbalances often lead to pervasive cultural stereotypes and attitudes that perpetuate the cycle of spousal and gender-based violence.

Communities, especially in rural areas, have continued to embrace negative cultural beliefs whereby gender-based violence is a norm. If a man does not beat his wife, it is taken to mean he does not love her. Some beliefs condone men’s infidelity but never women's.

The Bono Minister said the dependency syndrome, whereby women depend on the perpetrators of violence for survival, puts survivors in vulnerable situations.
Deeply embedded patriarchal values have led to women remaining discriminated against and disadvantaged in many sectors and to their being at a higher risk of violence.

At the end of the meeting, a seven (7) member committee was constituted to undertake and be charged with the following mandate as part of the efforts in reducing or total elimination of the menace from the various communities in the Region.
1. Public sensitization on radio and other social media platforms
2. Visitation to churches and mosques to sensitize members on the consequences of such menace 
3. Engagement with traditional authorities and community members.

A recent example is a 25-year-old farmer and his 21-year-old girlfriend who was found dead at Brosankro-Aprakukrom, a farming community near Abronye in the Sunyani West Municipality.

The body of Francis Kwame Awuah was found in his room with multiples of cutlass wounds on the head, while that of Lydia Akosua who also had several cutlass wounds was discovered in a cashew farm a few metres away from his boyfriend’s house in the farming community.
Mr Atta Kwasi Dognekoh Snr. the Assemblyman for Abronye Electoral Area who confirmed the incident to journalists said the sad incident might have happened between late Saturday and early hours of Sunday, November 27, 2022. 

No arrest had been made so far, the Police had since deposited the bodies at the Sunyani Regional Hospital Mortuary for preservation and autopsy, while investigations continued.

Mr Dognekoh explained he was at a funeral at Atronie, near Sunyani on Sunday around 0830 hours when he received a call from the community that somebody had been murdered at a cashew farm in the area and so he quickly directed members of the local Unit Committee to report the matter to the Police at Odumase.
 
 “The cashew farmer had brought some labourers to work in his farm when they discovered the body lying face down in a pool of blood”, he said. “After few minutes I received another call that another body has also been found butchered, and this time a man in his room close to the cashew farm. So I called and informed the police who rushed to the scenes and retrieved the bodies” Mr Dognekoh added.

He said the incident had since created fear and panic in the area and appealed to the Police to be expeditious in their investigations, saying “the incident is horrible and the Police must speed up investigations, arrest and make the murderers face the full rigours of the law”.

Story by Opamago Paparichy.