Woman stabbed, hacked to death in Limpopo

LIMPOPO -The 35-year- old woman was murdered during an domestic-related incident at Tshino location, Vuwani earlier today (Saturday, 7 December)

According to police reports the accused had reportedly accused his wife of cheating and after a heated argument, he then stabbed and hacked her death. She died on the spot Police Spokesperson, Brig Motlafela Mojapelo.

He left the scene and local residents pursued him until they caught him and beat him up. The police were then notified and he was arrested and taken to hospital where he was admitted under police guard.

Sunyani Municipal Marks National Sanitation Day with a Cleanup Exercise

The Sunyani Municipal Assembly, under the leadership of the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) Hon. Vincent Antwi Agyei, spearheaded a successful district-wide cleanup exercise on Saturday, October 4, as part of the National Sanitation Day activities. The exercise aimed to improve sanitation, promote public hygiene, and create a cleaner and healthier environment for all residents.

Several communities in the Sunyani West Municipality have been affected by heavy flooding following continuous rainfall. The flooding has disrupted transportation routes, damaged property, and displaced some households. Municipal authorities and emergency response teams are assessing the situation and working to provide relief and ensure public safety. Residents are advised to exercise caution, avoid crossing flooded areas, and report emergencies to the appropriate authorities. Read more...

News Update: Sunyani West Communities Hit by Flooding

Assembly Staff Undergoes Training on Smart Workplace

Staff of the Sunyani Municipal Assembly of the Bono Region of Ghana have undergone a capacity-building training on the “Smart Workplace” platform aimed at enhancing efficiency, improving service delivery, and fostering innovation within the Assembly. The training, held at the Assembly’s hall, brought together staff from various departments and Units to learn practical skills for adapting to modern workplace demands. Read more...

Sunyani Zongo inferno destroys five shops, leaves traders devastated

A late-night fire outbreak in the Sunyani Zongo community has destroyed five shops, leaving traders counting heavy losses. The cause of the blaze has not yet been determined, but emergency responders and community members worked together to bring the fire under control. Affected shop owners expressed devastation over the loss of goods and livelihoods. Municipal authorities are assessing the damage and coordinating support for affected traders while investigations into the incident continue.

MP for Sunyani East fulfills Promise to Constituents

The Member of Parliament for Sunyani East Constituency of the Bono Region Hon. Seid Mubarak has fulfilled his pledge to enhance lighting and safety in local communities by distributing streetlight bulbs to assembly members in the Sunyani Municipality. Read more...

MCE Meets Revenue Collectors to Boost Sunyani’s Revenue Generation

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Sunyani Hon. Vincent Antwi Adjei has met with revenue collectors of the Sunyani Municipal Assembly as part of efforts to strengthen strategies aimed at boosting revenue mobilization for the municipality. The meeting, held at the Assembly Hall, brought together revenue officers and supervisors to deliberate on practical measures to enhance efficiency, expand the revenue base, and address operational challenges affecting revenue performance. Read more...

MCE and MP Embark on Familiarization Tour of Senior High Schools

In a bid to enhance educational standards and foster closer relationships with the youth, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Sunyani, Hon. Vincent Antwi Adjei, alongside the Member of Parliament (MP) Hon. Seid Mubarak have embarked on a familiarization tour of three Senior High Schools (SHS) within the Sunyani Municipality Read more...

Ghana: Police arrest 14 at party, suspecting it was a ‘lesbian wedding’

his article has been revised to state that 14 LGBTQ people were arrested at the party — a revised figure reported by the African Equality Centre based on information from the LGBTQ community in the Mpraeso area. In the original reporting on this site and elsewhere, 22 people were said to have been arrested.]

In Ghana, police over the weekend arrested 14 LGBTQ+ persons at an event that a local leader reported as a rumoured “lesbian wedding”. It was actually a birthday party, according to the attendees and — eventually — the police.

This account is based on information from the Ghana-based pro-LGBTQ+ African Equality Centre (AEC), GhanaWeb and Angel TV Ghana.

‘Lesbian wedding’ arrestees freed; Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ furor continues

Ghana police have freed the people they arrested last weekend at a party that police believed was a “lesbian wedding”. Meanwhile, homophobic campaigns against Ghana’s LGBTQ citizens continue.

The Ghana-based African Equality Centre (AEC) said that the latest report from Kwahu Obomeng and nearby Mpraeso is that 14 people were arrested in Kwahu Obomeng over the weekend rather than the 22 initially reported.

The AEC reported that the 14 arrestees were held by Mpraeso District Police until they paid for their release.

Ghana: Drop Charges Against LGBT Rights Defenders

Surge in State-Sponsored Harassment

(Johannesburg) – Ghana’s attorney general should drop charges against 21 human rights defenders who face ongoing judicial harassment after attending a paralegal training session, Human Rights Watch said today. The activists were charged with “unlawful assembly” for attending a meeting on how to document and report human rights violations against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

On June 11, 2021, the High Court released the activists on bail after 22 days in detention, raising hopes that the authorities would abandon abusive efforts to prosecute them. But at a hearing on June 16, Circuit Court Judge Felix Datsomor granted the state prosecutor a postponement on the basis that the docket was with the attorney general for further advice and instruction.

“The unlawful arrest and detention of human rights defenders simply for attending a training session on human rights is a stain on Ghana’s reputation,” said Wendy Isaack, LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The prosecutor should immediately abandon this appalling effort to punish activists for learning about human rights.”

Police arrested the 16 women and 5 men on May 20 at a hotel where they were attending a paralegal training session by Rightify Ghana, a human rights organization. Police justified the arrest on the grounds that the training session was promoting homosexuality and that the gathering was an unlawful assembly. Section 201 of the Ghana Criminal Code (Amendment) Act 2003 (Act 646) defines an unlawful assembly as the gathering of three or more people with the intent to commit an offense, clearly not the case in this instance, Human Rights Watch said.

The Circuit Court and High Court denied three bail applications before the High Court finally granted bail. Danny Bediako, executive director of Rightify Ghana, told Human Rights Watch that the repeated bail refusals and prolonged detention may be a tactic “to punish and instill fear among LGBT+ individuals and human rights defenders” and as a “political tactic to legitimize homophobic violence and support conservative members of parliament that are calling for further criminalization of same sex conduct.”

The arrests are the latest attack on LGBT rights organizing in Ghana. In March, police raided a community center for LGBT+ people following mounting pressure by religious and traditional groups against the center, forcing it to close its doors.

Human Rights Watch has documented the human rights impact of section 104(1)(b) of Ghana’s penal code, which prohibits and punishes “unnatural carnal knowledge,” and the authorities’ failure to actively address violence and discrimination against LGBT people. While few, if any prosecutions, have been carried out under this provision, Human Rights Watch found that the criminalization of adult consensual same-sex conduct contributes to a climate in which violence and discrimination against LGBT people are commonplace. Section 104(1)(b), commonly referred to as the anti-gay law, is seen as tacit government approval of discrimination, and even violence, on the basis of real or imputed sexual orientation and gender identity.

Several opinion leaders, including government officials and members of parliament, have spoken out against gay rights, contributing to a threatening atmosphere for LGBT people. In February 2018, then-speaker of parliament Mike Ocquaye reiterated his position that the house will not be coerced to pass any legislation that endorses gay rights, and had warned in July 2017 “that leaders in countries like Ghana would not countenance the aggressive push by external forces to accept acts such as homosexuality, bestiality among others.”

On March 8, the Ghanaian Times reported that six members of parliament had “hinted of jointly sponsoring a bi-partisan Private Members Bill… to proscribe and criminalise the advocacy and practice of homosexuality in the country.”

Such legislation would be inconsistent with the rights to freedom of assembly, association and expression, protected under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Banjul Charter) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), both of which Ghana has ratified and is bound to uphold. Ghana’s Constitution also expressly protects these freedoms.

In September 2020, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which interprets the ICCPR, adopted General Comment No. 37 on Article 21, the right of peaceful assembly urging countries to ensure that “laws and their interpretation and application do not result in discrimination in the enjoyment of the right of peaceful assembly for instance on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.” Any restrictions on peaceful assemblies “may not be imposed because of opposition to expressions of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 2014 adopted Resolution 275, “Protection against Violence and other Human Rights Violations against Persons on the basis of their real or imputed Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity” (ACHPR/Res.275(LV)2014), condemning “violence and other human rights violations, including arbitrary imprisonment” on the basis of their imputed or real sexual orientation or gender identity and calling on countries to “ensure that human rights defenders work in an enabling environment that is free of stigma, reprisals or criminal prosecution as a result of their human rights protection activities, including the rights of sexual minorities.”

The Commission’s Resolution 376 on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in Africa says that governments should adopt domestic legislation to protect human rights defenders working on issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity. The African Commission’s Guidelines for Policing Assemblies by Law Enforcement Officials in Africa also says that countries should train all law enforcement officials on the safety and protection of groups that may face limitations on their right to freedom of assembly, including on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Ghana should ensure that human rights defenders work in an enabling environment that is free of stigma, reprisals, or criminal prosecution as a result of their human rights protection activities, including defenders working on sexual orientation and gender identity issues,” Isaack said. “The authorities should stop harassing human rights defenders for doing their work and should disavow efforts to advance legislation that would further entrench discrimination against LGBT people."

Ghana court denies bail for 21 detained LGBT activists

A Ghanaian court on Tuesday denied bail to 21 gay rights activists arrested nearly three weeks ago for what police described as an unlawful gathering, their lawyer said.

The 16 women and five men were told to reappear in court on June 16 for their next hearing. Some were seen weeping after the ruling in the southeastern city of Ho.

LGBTQ people face widespread persecution in the West African nation, where gay sex is punishable with up to three years imprisonment. Ghana has not prosecuted anyone for same-sex relations in years, but the LGBTQ community has reported a crackdown by authorities in recent months.

Ghana police arrest LGBTI+ party-goers, not the robbers who attacked them

Robbers attacked dozens of people attending a party last Saturday night near Accra, Ghana, but when police arrived they arrested the party-goers, not the robbers, after the criminals told police the gathering was a “gay party”, according to the LGBTI+ rights group Rightify Ghana.

Ghana: Waiting for a President

The last two years have been tough ones for elections in sub-Saharan Africa. Presidential and parliamentary elections in Kenya late last year were badly flawed, and led to political violence which claimed up to a thousand lives. Elections in Zimbabwe in March 2008 indicated a possible transfer of power from Robert Mugabe to Morgan Tsvangarai, but a violent crackdown on his party caused Tsvangarai to pull out of the second round of polling. While Nigeria's election in April 2007 was generally peaceful, it was widely viewed as flawed by international monitors.

Woman Arrested in Accra’s Nima Area After Mob Attack Linked to LGBTQ+ Allegations

Woman Arrested in Accra’s Nima Area After Mob Attack Linked to LGBTQ+ Allegations

Police in Nima have arrested a woman in connection with a violent incident that occurred on March 20, 2008, according to an eyewitness account.

The incident comes amid reported hostility toward individuals perceived to be part of the LGBTQ+ community. An eyewitness, Ben Ofori, stated that members of a local youth group forcibly entered a private residence after receiving information that two female guests staying in the house were believed to be members of the LGBTQ+ community.

According to Ofori, the women were suspected of being lesbians based on their public behavior, including holding hands and showing affection. He said he was waiting outside the residence for transportation when several youths rushed into the building, shouting that one of the women, identified as Sarah, posed a threat to women in the community.

The group allegedly broke into the room where the women were staying. At the time of the incident, Sarah was reportedly naked, while her partner, Halena, was lying on the bed with a towel wrapped around her body. The eyewitness stated that the group assaulted both women, with the majority of the violence directed at Sarah.

Ofori added that the situation was disrupted by the arrival of Halena’s mother, which allowed Sarah to escape. Halena was initially arrested and handcuffed but was later released after her mother intervened. The eyewitness further claimed that Halena’s parents became involved in a confrontation after her father called for her arrest.

According to Ofori, Sarah was later apprehended by the police. Authorities have confirmed that investigations into the incident are ongoing.

In Ghana, NDC Nominations for Presidential Candidates Open

Today in Ghana, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), an opposition party, will open nominations for aspiring presidential candidates to lead the party in the 2008 general elections. The nomination period is expected to end December 2nd. The party will choose its presidential candidate December 16th during the party congress. Those holding executive positions who wish to support other candidates or run as candidates themselves must resign their positions by September 15th, a deadline as set by the party. Nomination forms are being sold at two million cedis, while aspiring candidates are expected to pay a non-refundable deposit of one hundred million cedis (about $218).

To date, two-time presidential candidate Professor Atta Mills, business magnate Eddie Annan, and a former presidential adviser, Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, have announced their intentions to campaign for the NDC’s presidential slot. Meanwhile, the chief executive of Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, says he will announce his intention for the NDC presidential slot by the end of September.

The general secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, spoke with VOA English to Africa reporter Peter Clottey about today’s nominations.

“According to the NDC constitution, we need to elect our flag bearer two clear years, that is 24 calendar months before the presidential elections. So recalling from the fact that the presidential elections are billed for early December 2008, then working backwards 24 months from December 2008 will put us at first or second week in December 2006. So that is the mandatory date for our next presidential primaries. And our guidelines have subsequently indicated that we need to open nominations 120 days before the congress date. And that falls on today.”