The Executive Director of Henry Djaba Memorial Foundation Otiko Afisah Djaba is calling for the abolishment of widowhood rites across.
Speaking in an interview with Noel Nutsugah, host of Statecraft on Zylofon FM, on June 23, 2021 to mark International Widows Day, Madam Djaba underscored the need for the abolishment of the ancient cultural practice, saying the traumatic experience it brings to the women who lost their husbands after they are made to undergo such ‘cruelty’, is enough evidence to support her call.
For the Executive Director of Henry Djaba Memorial Foundation, it is the cultural and traditional widowhood rites that are the core reasons why widows in Ghana are suffering.
“The patriarchal family structure of Ghana advances barbaric treatment towards widows and so widowhood rites and other related practices should be totally abolished” she stressed.
The International Widows day is a United Nation ratified day of action to address the poverty and injustices faced by millions of widows and their dependents in many countries across the globe, June 23 is set aside every year to observe the day. This year’s theme has been given as “invincible women, Invincible Problems.’’
With nearly a million of widows in Ghana, Madam Djaba asserts that some tribes and families, even in the enlightened and scientific age, continue to visit ‘poor’ widows with archaic cultural practices which in themselves achieve nothing but are only biased and demean the humanness of the already suffering widows, hence there must be an end to the practice.
Speaking on Governments efforts and committed in addressing these issues Madam Djaba explained that government must strengthened institutions to implement existing laws that are in our statutes. She decried the phenomenon where the deceased man’s relatives, in some cases, drive the widow out of their matrimonial home, forcing her to leave in extreme poverty with her children, asking society to rise and make their voices heard in order to end “these” injustices against widows.
“I know there are laws in our books but the implementation is the problem. The PNDC Law 111 is there to protect the woman and the property, but the family members will come to move you out and the law will not stop them. The law seem to be silent and justice delay is justice denied. So, government has a lot to do but not only government but Civil Society Organizations, the NGOs, the Religious groups and the traditional leaders. It is these customary rites that are embedded in our tradition that are really causing these problems, so they need to sit up and implement the law”
On policy issues, Madam Djaba said government does not have specific policies for widows however, the Domestic violence Law, the Convention on the Elimination Of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Gender Policy and constitutional laws “within these policies and framework include some legislative instruments that can help to protect women against any form of discrimination and dehumanization including demeaning widowhood rites”.
The Executive Director of Henry Djaba Memorial Foundation who doubles as former Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, used the opportunity to admonish Ghanaians to be empathetic and sympathetic towards the plight of widows for “it could be you or your relative tomorrow”
