'I want to shave you'
Man jailed 10 years
1.8million
school leavers left on the streets
'I want to shave you'
It was a plot, which a 14-year-old girl never
expected to be hatched against her by her own biological father. The girl, who
had gone to spend the Yuletide with her father, was subjected to serious sexual
molestations, which robbed her of her virginity and left her with a
psychological wound that may never heal.
Her father, Emmanuel Nunoo, aka Emmanuel
Asuman, 42, driver, asked to inspect her
armpits. After this inspection, he told her that
since it was bushy, he was sure it was same with her public hair.
He therefore insisted on shaving her but the
young girl refused. He made the request again the following day and the girl
told him she had already shaved. Her answer infuriated Nunoo so much that he
ordered her to strip to ascertain the truth. The young girl obeyed her father
and, in the process, he forcibly had sex with her.
On December 17, Nunoo hatched another plan and
had his way with his daughter again.
Obviously not satisfied he insisted on a second round. When the girl
refused, he threatened her with a knife.
The screams of the girl attracted cotenants in
the house who came to her aid and sent Nunoo to the police. Nunoo is currently
on police remand and will be put before court on Monday, January 14, charged
with incest.
According to Inspector M.K. Owusu-Anaman of the
Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU) of the Ghana Police Service, the victim, who is
a pupil in a school in Accra, lives with her mother, a trader, at Dome, near
Accra.
The victim, whose parents separated when she
was six years, occasionally pays visits to her father at his residence at
Ayigbe Town, also in Accra.
Inspector Owusu-Anaman said somewhere last
month, the victim went to her father to spend the holidays. In the course of
the visit, the victim had her period and informed one Esi, a cotenant about it.
He said Esi advised her to tell her father
about it so that he gives her money to buy sanitary pad. But when the victim
informed Nunoo, he told her he would only comply if she showed him her menses.
The victim refused so Nunoo did not give her
the money for the pad and Esi gave her some.
One night, after the victim's period had
stopped, Nunoo returned from work and told her he would shave her pubic hair
because since her armpits were bushy, he suspects her public hair would be
same. The victim, however, refused to allow her father to shave her.
When Nunoo returned home the following day, he
again asked to shave the victim but she told him she had already shaved. Nunoo
became angry and asked her to remove her underwear to enable him ascertain the
truth. She did as her father asked and in the
process he forcibly had sex with her.
The confused girl confided in Esi the next day
who told her it would be difficult for anyone to believe her story but she is
sure Nunoo will not stop there but will make another attempt and when he does,
she should scream and the co-tenants will come in and catch him red-handed.
So on December 17, just before mid-night, Nunoo
woke the victim up and accused her of having sex with someone since her body
reeks of sex. The victim denied it but Nunoo insisted she was telling lies and
that he can only find out the truth by inspecting her private parts.
Nunoo therefore forced the victim to strip
naked and he also did same. He then told the victim he cannot be too sure by
just looking so he will have to do the inspection with his manhood.
Inspector Owusu-Anaman said Nunoo thus had sex
with his daughter. He subsequently asked for a second round, which the victim
refused.
When Nunoo realized the victim was adamant to
give in to his request, he threatened her with a knife. This frightened the
victim who started screaming "Papa me pa wo kyew" which literally
means "Father, I beg you."
Her screams attracted the attention of the
co-tenants who rushed and forced open the door to Nunoo’s room. He was found
naked lying on top of his daughter with a knife in his hand.
When interrogated by his co-tenants, Nunoo admitted
having had sex with his daughter and pleaded with them to be lenient with him.
More…/
Man jailed 10 years
The Jasikan Circuit Court has sentenced a
32-year-old palm-wine tapper to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour for
defiling his nine-year-old stepdaughter. He is also to pay a fine of ¢1.5
million as compensation to the victim.
Sakpaku Tawish, pleaded guilty to the charge
and was sentenced on his own plea by the court, chaired by Mr E.K. Ayebi.
Chief Inspector I.K. Adade, prosecuting, told the
court that the victim stays with her mother and stepfather at Jasikan.
He said in February last year, while the
victim's mother left for Tapa Abotoase to buy goods for sale, Tawiah lured her
to his bedroom and forcibly assaulted her sexually after which he threatened
her with death if she should ever disclose the ordeal to anybody.
The prosecutor said a few days later, the
victim's mother detected an unusual movement in her and subjected her to
questioning. Chief Inspector Adade said the girl revealed the act that took
place between her and her stepfather.
He said at a family tribunal, Tawiah admitted
the offence and he was ordered to take care of the treatment of the girl. He
therefore paid a total of ¢150,000 for the treatment at the Hohoe Government
Hospital.
On November 19, 2001, Tawiah was arrested by
the Jasikan Police and charged with the offence. The court further warned that
such criminal acts must not be tried by traditional authorities. Tawiah was
summarily sentenced to serve as a deterrent to other offenders.
GRi…/
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She keeps booty of armed robbers
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of
the Ghana Police Service has in their custody a 38-year-old trader, Madam
Adjeley Adjei of Teshie in Accra, for using her house as a hide-out for armed
robbers where they keep their stolen booty. She was arrested on Tuesday,
December 25, 2001, upon a tip-off.
The police had earlier mounted a surveillance
on Madam Adjeley for three days. Items retrieved from the house of the woman
are a Dell Lap-Top Computer, three speakers; a CD player, assorted video
cassettes; hair tonging machines; video decks and a pedicure machine.
The rest included 10 hand-dryers, assorted
cooking utensils, assorted old and new metal buckets, flash lights, tape
recorders, Nokia mobile phone and two studio head phones.
Mr Dennys Akob-Dem, a Police Officer of the
Vetting, Criminal, Intelligence and Analysis Department (VCIA) at the Police
Headquarters, briefing "The Spectator" on Monday, said Madam Adjeley
told the police that the items belong to her relations and herself. Mr Akob-Dem
said Madam Adjeley could, however, not provide any receipt nor proof of
ownership of the items.
The
Police Officer said on a number of occasions, the police received tip-offs on
the activities of Madam Adjeley on suspicion of her being in league with armed
robbers and often keeping their stolen goods for them.
Mr Akob-Dem has invited the general public who
have been robbed to contact the Police Headquarters to identify the items.
Madam Adjeley appeared before an Accra
Community Tribunal on Friday, December 28, charged with possessing stolen
goods.
Her plea was not taken and the presiding judge,
Mr Kojo Owusu, remanded her into police custody to enable the police to conduct
further investigations into her activities.
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The Secretary-General of the Ghana Catholic
Bishops Conference, Rev Monsignor Jonathan Ankrah, has called on Ghanaians to
exercise restraint in their reactions to the results of the 2000 Population
Census, released by Ghana Statistical Service. He contented that any
discussions of the document, which could invoke emotions and passion has the
potential to disturb the peace and unity in the country.
Msgr Ankrah, who was speaking in an interview
in Accra on Friday, said census is not a ‘feeling’ about numbers but a
scientific exercise for gathering data about people. He said since a census is
conducted on scientific basis the findings of the census must do so scientifically.
He, therefore, appealed to members of the
public not to let emotions or passions blind their judgements, especially on
religious grounds, where each group would like to suggest that its members are
more than the others.
The bishop said the country must avoid creating
a situation like that in Nigeria, where Muslims and Christians often challenge
each other based on their numbers. Msgr Ankrah said the country should be
spared any such conflicts or troubles as “we do not need them.”
He said among the rules governing the conduct
of a census is giving room for error since not everyone will be counted.
Consequently, he said, the Census Secretariat makes estimation to cover people
who will not be counted.
He said the Catholic Church usually keeps
records of all its members, adding that, “each bishop is obliged to send an
update of its members to Rome each year.”
In a related development, the Leader of the
Afrikania Mission, Osofo Kofi Ameve has added his voice to the call by the
Coalition of Muslim Organisations for the withdrawal of the census results. He
contended that the entire process was fraught with inaccuracies and could not
be accepted as the statistical representation of the people of the country.
Osofo Kofi Ameve said various pieces of
evidence provided in both national and international surveys point to the fact
that the adherents of the traditional religion form the majority in the
country.
He referred to the evidence provided on the
website of the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States, the Universal
Almanac and the Ghana Living Standards Survey, which put adherents of the
traditional religion at about 20 per cent and wondered how the percentage could
be reduced even at the reduced rate of 2.6 per cent.
“There is every indication to buttress the fact
that the adherents of the African traditional religion form the majority in the
country,” he said.
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The Director of the Institute of Statistical,
Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Prof Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, said on Friday
that the Coalition of Muslim Organisations had been too quick to fault the 2000
Population Census.
He noted that the coalition could have waited
for the outcome of what he called post enumeration survey (PES), which gives
the margin of error after the consideration of the various variables.
In an interview on his reaction to the call
that the results of the census should be withdrawn, Prof Asenso-Okyere said:
“As of now, we do not have the PES so why should any group fault the figures.
It will be appropriate to see the PES.”
It would be recalled that this week has seen
what could be described as a “census war” between the Coalition of Muslim
Organisations and the Ghana Statistical Service over the results of the 2000
Population Census.
The director submitted that there has not been
any census, which has had total enumeration. It is important to bear that in
mind when trying to fault census figures. He argued that there is a difference
between sample and total enumeration and nobody should confuse the two when
citing figures.
Prof Asenso-Okyere also noted that the
perception that all the three northern regions are dominated by Muslims is not
true. Indeed, it is only the Northern Region where that perception holds.
He suggested that perhaps Muslims can also help
by registering their members and it may well be that when the registration is
done, it can compare favourably with the census figures.
The director recalled that in the 1984 Census,
there were varied comments about the figures, which compelled the then
Government Statistician, Daasebre Dr Oti Boateng, to tell the world that he
stood by the figures the service had made public.
GRi…/
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1.8million
school leavers left on the streets
It is estimated that about 1,792,000 Senior Secondary and Junior Secondary School leavers have been outside the educational system since 1990. What makes the situation worse is that they have no employable skills.
Available
data indicates that out of an average of 200,000 JSS students who pass out
every year, only about 72,000 gain admission into SSS, while about 10,000 get
into technical institutions and vocational schools.
Also,
out of about 72,000 SSS students graduating each year, only 25,000 gain access
to universities, polytechnics and teacher training colleges, leaving about 47,000
on the streets.
The
Principal of the University College of Education, Winneba, Professor Josphus
Anamua-Mensah, said these when he addressed the on-going First Quadrennial (48th)
National Delegates Conference of GNAT in Accra, on Friday.
He
said that there seemed to be a tacit acceptance of the principle that in any
learning system, only a few should excel, and because of that, very little
support was provided for students falling below standard, resulting in mass
failures.
“This
is a potential time bomb as we seem to be creating a group of disillusioned
citizens for the society with the majority of them remaining unemployed or
becoming street children,” he said.
Professor
Anamua-Mensah expressed the hope that any review of the educational system in
terms of its structure, content, method, management and evaluation should be
aimed at waging a relentless war against low standards, through the
implementation of what he described as “zero tolerance of educational failure”.
He
said, instead of the JSS system, which could not operate the zero tolerance
policy, a standard-based education system should be created. The Professor
explained that, the standard-based system was not about improving the classroom
transaction or bringing inputs into schools but would be concerned with the
transformation of the whole ecology of schooling to achieve the desired
results.
He
said it should involve all the critical elements of the school system to work
together to ensure that all pupils achieve defined and challenging standards of
performance.
He
however noted that, the proposed standard-based education would not be
successfully implemented if the schools, districts and regions are not properly
organised and managed for results, defined by students’ performance against high
standards.
He
also said the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) should be made
available to all learners from basic to tertiary education in order to enable
them make the best use of the ever increasing knowledge in the system.
“The
computerisation of all schools should be seen as a priority need in a learning
society”, he urged. The Professor said the inclusion of rural schools in the
learning society require the implementation of deliberate measures such as the
use of mobile computer labs, and mobile libraries and there was the need for
serious consideration to be given in that direction.
GRi…/
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