Statement By NPP Campaign Committee On Widow’s Day

23RD June, 2008

Today is widows’ day around the world.

On this day, we extend to all who have lost their spouses, our profound condolences. The pain for many lasts for years and sometimes forever.

Even though it is a tragedy whenever a spouse dies, the burden is particularly heavy on women. This burden is worsened in the developing world where rites and customs too often add unnecessarily to the burdens of bereaved women.

First there are rites that inflict unnecessary humiliation and pain on our women. An example is compelling the frightened bereaved woman to spend a night with the corpse of the departed man. Too often, particularly in our part of the world, many women who lose their spouses have insufficient skills, few legal protections and little income security. These lead to difficulties in caring for the children who may have been left behind. Sometimes, the families of the deceased expel the wife and children from the house and confiscate all his property.

Here in Ghana, we have made significant progress in introducing legal protections for women and children in these circumstances. However, our work is not yet done. We need to educate our people so that they will embrace our women during this difficult period in their lives. We urge our individual families as well as our national family to rally around our women during this time.

Let us care for the women who in many of these instances have cared for our sons, our uncles and our relatives for many years. Let us care for the children of the departed whom they loved as much as we loved them while they were alive.

On this issue, let Ghana, Africa’s nation of destiny, continue to lead the way in legal and social protections for our women. They are our mothers—they are our sisters and they are our friends. They are the widows of today and will be the widows of tomorrow.

On this occasion, when it is inappropriate to wish widows happiness, we wish them well and ask for God’s protection on their behalf. We pledge work for better treatment for our widows.

__________________________ Arthur Kobina Kennedy Chair, 2008 NPP Campaign Committee