Accra (Greater Accra) 27 July '99
Queen mothers on Monday called for the support of their chiefs to help them play an effective role in eradicating harmful cultural practices that impede development.
The queen mothers attending a roundtable discussion on "The role of queen mothers in eradicating harmful traditional and cultural practices that impede development", said most of them were not being given the needed recognition and empowerment by chiefs.
This lack of respect, they said, has made them powerless in dealing with rising social problems such as defilement, rape, female genital mutilation and harmful widowhood rites.
The one-day discussion, organised by the National Council on Women and Development, (NCWD) was aimed at informing and educating the queen mothers to help them to play an effective role in their various traditional areas.
Over 20 queen mothers, drawn from the Eastern, Ashanti and Greater Accra regions attended the meeting.
They noted that some of the paramount queen mothers join the chiefs to prevent the sub-queen mothers from playing any meaningful role in the communities.
Nana Saah I, Gyasewahemaa of Akwapim South Traditional area and a member of the Electoral Commission, stressed that queen mothers cannot be left out of the development process and urged chiefs to give them the chance to address the social problems affecting the communities.
She said they were concerned about the recent murders of women and the high incidence of defilement of girls.
Mrs Molly Anim-Addo, Chairperson of NCWD, said the queen mothers must also be empowered financially with monies that come to the traditional areas for them to contribute effectively.
Nana Oye Lithur of the Ghana Law Trust Company urged the queen mothers to contact the Women and Juvenile Unit of the Ghana Police Service to help them establish the unit at every Police station.
