Former Akwatia NDC parliamentary aspirant, Erasmus Koney Ali, widely known in Akwatia as Asanka Poyooyo, has called on the public to stop tagging elderly widows and poor aged women as witches.
According to him, many elderly women continue to suffer stigma and discrimination because of poverty, old age and certain physical conditions beyond their control.
Speaking during a Mother’s Day donation exercise for widows and elderly women, Asanka Poyooyo urged society to change its mindset and show love, protection and care towards vulnerable women instead of neglecting them.
“Let’s change our mindset of accusing poor aged women that they are witches,” he stated.
He explained that some of the women have grown physically weak or different due to age and hardship, while others who could not give birth are often wrongly accused of witchcraft.
“Some of the women have changed physically because of the system while some could not give birth, therefore people have termed them as witches,” he said.
He stressed that widows and aged women deserve shelter, care and support rather than rejection and abuse from society.
“Nobody should neglect the widows, but rather find them shelter and bring them closer,” he added.
As part of the Mother’s Day celebration, Erasmus Koney Ali donated bags of rice, cooking oil, clothes and other cooking items to widows within the community.
He disclosed that supporting widows and vulnerable women has been part of his humanitarian efforts for the past 15 years.
According to him, the annual donation exercise is aimed at putting smiles on the faces of widows and reminding society of the need to care for the aged and less privileged.
Beneficiaries of the donation expressed appreciation for the gesture and commended him for continuously remembering widows and vulnerable women in the community.
Source: Mubarak Yakubu
