Action plan for DV Act ready

Daily Graphic, Pg 17, Jan 15/09

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho

TO ensure the smooth implementation of the Domestic Violence (DV) Act passed in February 2007, the National Policy and Plan of Action (NPoA) has been launched.
The NPoA which provides a guideline for the implementation of the DV Act was compiled after the ministry had had various consultative meetings with stakeholders including non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and developing partners.
The implementation of the DV Act has not been effective since its inception because of the delay in formulating the NPoA and the former Minister of MOWAC, Hajia Alima Mahama, who launched the document in Accra said the Netherlands Government has provided $1.5m for this year as their support for its implementation.
She added that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was also keen to support other activities in connection with the DV Act which has not yet been supported.
She said her ministry contributed GH¢100.00 from the HIPC Fund to the Breast Cancer (BC) Fund and the DV Victims Support Fund would be catered for in the ministry’s next budget.
She, however, pledged to provide technical support to the Management Board of the DV victims and urged them to call on her any time they needed her expertise.
The acting Director of the Department of Women, Mrs Francesca Pobe Hayford, in her welcoming address, took the opportunity to introduce Ms Christina Edmund and Mr Kweku Ohene Agyei as nominees for the ministries of Finance and the Interior respectively to the board.
Other members of the board are Dr Maureen Mantey, Ministry of Health; Ms Jemima Allotey, Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment; Mrs Beatrice Zakpa Gib-Sanziri, Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit; Dr Dominic Pealore, Ministry of Education and Sports; Ms Ursula Owusu, FIDA and Mr Chris Azumah, Ministry of Local Government Rural Development and Environment. Others are Mr Henry Tackie, Attorney-General's Department; Mrs Angela Dwamena-Aboagye, Ark Foundation and Mrs Margaret Ktsuati, Department of Social Welfare.
Mrs Hayford said with the inclusion of the two nominees, the board now had the full complement of members as stipulated in the DV Act.
She added that the Act had been translated into six Ghanaian Languages and was hopeful that with support from the Netherlands Government and the UNDP, it would be possible to kick-start activities to implement the NPoA.
A Principal State Attorney at the Attorney-General’s Department and a member of the DV Management Board, Mr Henry Tackie, who chaired the programme, pointed out to the board that they now had the burden of ensuring the protection of DV victims.
He called on members to study the NPoA in order to play their roles effectively and also reminded all members to ensure that their respective ministries played their roles as specified in the NPoA in the ministries’ 2009 budget estimates.