Pay Bribe Or Give Me Sex-Ghanaian Women Need Protection From Abuse

Is it news for you to read of such a sensitive caption for a blog? Don't be for our role is to educate the masses the way it is supposed to be said....Frankly speaking. Today (08/24/09) is another day and a new "bombshell" has come from Kumasi where a Roman Catholic minister is calling on Ghanaian men to show respect to women and be responsible by not abusing them sexually for job opportunity favors.

Here is the link to the article for your perusal:
Stop demanding sex in return for jobs -
Archbishop MensahKumasi, Aug 23, GNA - The Most Revered Thomas Kwaku Mensah, Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop of Kumasi, has condemned employers who demanded sex in return for employment, saying it was immoral, sinful and violated the human rights of job seekers.

He attributed the challenges facing the nation to "people's addiction to sin, which in the end separated humankind from God's love, the consequences being damnation."

The Most Rev. Mensah was delivering a sermon during his maiden pastoral visit to Saint Anthony's Catholic Church at Anwomaso, in Kumasi.

The Archbishop urged Christians to let their beliefs reflect in their daily lives to help reduce social vices in society. The Most Rev. Mensah reminded Christians that the world was a temporary abode for humankind and asked them to avoid chasing earthly wealth and prepare for their final home in heaven.He urged parents and authorities to ensure that children were properly trained to enable them to become responsible leaders in future.

Archbishop Mensah urged workers in the public sector to avoid laziness and be proactive to increase productivity.

The clergyman advised Ghanaians to refrain from the "get-rich quick" attitude, which according to him has resulted in cyber fraud, commonly known as 'sakawa' and armed robbery among the youth.

The Most Rev. Mensah said he supported caning of school children by teachers to refine and shape their behaviour.

Nana Kwaku Siaw, Nkosuohene for Anwomaso, appealed to the Catholic Church to establish a basic school in the community and pledged that the traditional authorities would release land for any such project.

Mr Kofi Appiah Boahen, Assembly Member for Anwomaso Electoral Area, expressed worry about the spate of armed robbery in area and asked the people to support the security personnel to end the crime.

Source: GNA
OUR COMMENTARY:
Comrades, It is worse than you think. It is too bad, but nobody wants to speak about it. It is hypocrisy at its best. In Ghana to secure job opportunity, It is either you pay a bribe of about 10million (Gh c 1000) or make yourself available for unwilling romantic experience with some stupid and irresponsible man.

Ghana is sinking into a land of Sin and Vice Glorification. A land of almost 80% religious people and everyone is almost corrupt. What happened to our moral conscience?

From the Street boy to the Minister of State, everyone is guilty. Ghanaian women are being abused indiscrimIinately.Teachers are sleeping with school pupils,Secondary School Masters are abusing young women to give them good grades, University lecturers are openly flirting with female students. With many people graduating from high school and Colleges with no jobs available,many women are becoming victims.

It is a fact nobody wants to say it, many young women working at many high offices have slept with many of their bosses. Some are even in relationships with their bosses.

The psychological damage and long term effect on these innocent women is something that we can not write about.I have a reliable information from Ghana that even to get into many of the professional schools, one has to sleep with no only some of the people on the interview team but also middlemen some of whom are leaders in the community. A case in point is about two chiefs in Ashanti region asking to sleep with a 20year old young woman before helping her to secure admission into a Nursing School.

Our people need to be educated on their rights and on how to report cases of sexual harasshment and abuse to the authorities. Some people have to go to jail to send the right messages to the wrong people. Instead of spending all night time educating people how to have sex with men, presenters like Akuma should be concerned with good cause such as this.

Bad programming in the media is also to be blamed.

It is about time that we educated our young women on their rights and the society about the need to wean itself of ridiculing bold victims who report cases of abuse to the right authorities. It is in this light that the US office of the International Center for African Culture & Arts is working with the Ghanaian NGO, the Centre for Human Development & Social Change and the Owoaman SPACE Institute to undertake a rural outreach project through entertainment education. We are also appealing to the government to let the law be functional and to give jail terms to irresponsible men in our society.

This will serve as a deterrent to potential abusers. Our women need protection by the law.