Women of Keta demonstrate against District Chief Executive

Keta (V/R), July 4, GNA - A cross-section of women in Keta went on a peaceful demonstration on Thursday to demand the immediate retraction of a media report that described them as being sexually promiscuous. The Keta District Chief Executive (DCE) Mr Emmanuel Vorkeh had granted "The Ghanaian Chronicle", a private newspaper, an interview in which he used words, which the women interpreted to mean that they had low morals.

The women clad in red attires sang war songs and waved placards some of which read, "DCE, Respect Our Ladies"; "DCE Support Your Claims With Facts"; "Our Pigs Don't Have AIDS" and "DCE Teach Us More About AIDS". The demonstrators marched from Vui, a suburb of Keta, to the District Assembly, where they presented a petition to the District Coordinating Director, Mr Kwaku Akyeampong, after a closed-door meeting. The Spokesperson of the group, Miss Favour Fugah told the gathering

that the DCE should as a matter of urgency render an unqualified apology to the women and retracts the story, which she said had put "their womanhood into disrepute." "There are no such open sexual activities on the town beaches at night as was claimed by the DCE," she emphasized.

The petition of the women also disagreed with the DCE's claim that pigs at Anlo-Afiadenyigba, a town in the District could be a source of the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus since there was no empirical evidence to support the assertion. Miss Fugah said for the DCE to impute promiscuous behaviour to women of the District showed his intention of painting black the self-respecting women of the town. Meanwhile, a fax message from the DCE published in the Thursday July 3 edition of "The Ghanaian Chronicle" expressed regret that part of his sessional address to the Keta District Assembly had created the wrong impression, when it was reported by the Chronicle and reviewed on many radio stations.

In the message, the DCE said his observation was to warn the youth against the HIV/AIDS menace and to draw their attention to the fact that the pandemic was real. "My warning was not directed at the older women, who were not even at the beaches, who are rather known nationally for their strict moral behaviour." Mr Vorkeh, therefore, apologized for the harm that the said publication might have caused and emphasized that he did not intend to question the moral integrity of the hard working and respected women of Keta.