A former Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Herbert Kokui Mensah is calling on the government to reorganize the ailing department.
According to him, reorganizing and resourcing the department will equip it to better handle, domestic violence and other related issues.
He lamented that the department has been neglected for a very long time, making it difficult for it to deal with its responsibilities.
His call comes on the back of recent reports of deaths of victims of domestic violence in the country. The development has drawn some attention to the many issues confronting the department and making its work ineffective.
In an interview with Citi News, Mr. Mensah said a reorganized Social welfare department will help reduce domestic violence in the country.
“It is very important that we think about family and the role the family plays in the welfare of society. We have what we call the society of social workers but we are inadequately supported.”
“I think now we are reorganizing the whole services of the government, social welfare must to be attended to deal with recent issues of violence.”
Recent attacks
A staff of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), Philip Caezar Kumah allegedly beat his girlfriend to death in the Volta Region earlier this month.
According to the Volta Regional Police PRO, Sgt. Prince Dogbatse, the victim Elizabeth Yesutor, complained to her friends about the constant abuse by her lover but failed to heed to advice to report the abuses to the police.
The District Court in Madina also recently remanded into police custody, one Prince Charles Dedjoe, a businessman, suspected to have killed his wife.
The suspect has been provisionally charged with murder and is to reappear before the court on March 22, 2021.
He was arrested on Sunday, March 7, 2021, for allegedly killing his wife at their residence at East Legon.
The Accra Regional Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Effia Tenge told Citi News that the father of the deceased said a day before her death, his daughter had complained to him about being severely assaulted by her husband.
She said the victim was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
The Police Command said a day after the incident, the suspect, Charles Dedjoe filed a police report saying that at about 3:20 am on the said day, he rushed out from bed upon hearing his wife scream only to find her lying unconscious on their staircase.