LET THE WIDOWS HAVE THEIR RIGHTS (PAGE 35, JAN 17, 2011)

IN September, 2010, I wrote an article on some dehumanising culturally related violence perpetrated against women in the form of widowhood rights.
Not long afterwards, Ms Gifty Anti hosted a GTV Breakfast Show programme during which she featured the Head of the Widows and Orphans Movement (WOM), Madam Betty Ayagiba, as well as a victim of the abuse and a lawyer, who discussed the practice, which is one of the worst forms of violence against women.
In the course of the discussion, a female viewer called in and bluntly accused the victim as being a witch and responsible for many blemishes in the family.
From the countenance of the hostess and other panel members, I could see that they were livid and astonished at the accusation levelled against the innocent old lady, a victim of the abuse who was on the panel.
In some parts of the Upper East Region, women who lose their husbands are made to undergo some dehumanising cultural practices which can sometimes be very injurious. Those who refuse to do so are labelled as witches and are haunted.
I caught up with the Director of WOM, Madam Betty Ayagiba, to find out from her how they were dealing with the deep-rooted problem and some of the challenges they faced.
One major challenge she mentioned was the fact that many people were still denying the fact that widows were made to go through those practices. She said people still felt culture must be maintained so women should still practise the negative cultural practices.
Another major challenge Madam Ayagiba raised was the fact that some of the women did not open up completely or did not speak the truth about what they were going through and ended up with wrong advice or intervention.
As an NGO in the forefront of change, what is WOM doing? In answer to that question, Madam Ayagiba said through the support of other funding agencies such as ActionAid Ghana and RAVI, a number of programmes such as sensitisation and skills acquisition training had been done to equip the victims and better integrate them into the society.
She cited the instance where with the support of ActionAid Ghana and Ravi, five communities had written resolutions and signed, opting to stop the negative cultural practices meted out to widows shortly after losing their husbands.
The communities are Sumbrungu, Gambigo, Anateem, Zuarungu and Durongo, all in the Bolgatanga Municipality. The chiefs and elders in communities such as Kongo in the Talensi-Nabdam District have issued a fiat stopping the maltreatment of widows.
Madam Ayagiba added that nowadays, chiefs, especially those in the Talensi-Nabdam District, visited funeral grounds to see to it that widows were not stripped naked.
“We are glad that men have added their voices that the widows should not go through some of the unnecessary abuses,” she said.
Madam Ayagiba, however, contended that more sensitisation programmes ought to be held throughout the region to get more women liberated from those callous acts.
On the economic empowerment programme offered the women, Madam Ayagiba said they preached about human rights violations and also tried to address the immediate needs of the women.
She stated that in communities such as Duusi, Datuko and Sakote, widows groups had grinding mills to facilitate the empowerment process.
Madam Ayagiba said through the Canadian initiative support for small businesses, a grinding mill had been acquired for the Bukere community widows group after ActionAid Ghana had helped to put up a structure.
“With support from other donors, WOM has provided grinding mills for 10 groups in other communities,” she said.
Another area the organisation has found itself in terms of economic empowerment is in livestock breeding.
Madam Ayagiba said WOM had supported 15 groups to rear and own animals. She said the organisation had also trained more than 500 women to weave modern straw baskets and they exported between 3,000 and 5,000 to the United States of America and Denmark every year.
Madam Ayagiba said WOM processed quality white shea butter pomade for the market and had attended many national and international trade fairs to sell its products.
She added that they had currently embarked on a 200-acre mango plantation at Sakote in the Talensi Nabdam District to support the women.
“However, one major challenge is lack of funds to address the needs of widows, orphans and communities, which are all major forms of violence against women and the organisation will welcome any support in that direction,” she stressed.
Madam Ayagiba did not end without making some recommendations.
In the first place, she wanted the government and NGOs to work in a concretised manner to raise awareness in communities on traditional practices and policies which discriminated against women.
“Again, chiefs and other traditional leaders must take the lead in promoting advocacy for the elimination of negative widowhood practices,” Madam Ayagiba said.
Madam Ayagiba added “Women should also stand up and fight for what is right for them otherwise the suffering will continue and lastly, the whole judicial system, the police, and agencies of state such as the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) must work as a team to deal with issues of human rights abuse, especially against women.
It is only through effective measures that the debilitating effects of such abuses can be solved and help the nation to take a giant step forward to accelerate progress at achieving the third of the Millennium Development Goals which places emphasis on promoting gender equity and women's economic empowerment”.