Former Foreign Affairs Minister Advises Young Girls To Dump Woman-Beater Boyfriends

Former Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hannah Tetteh, has advised young ladies and girls to quit toxic relationships with temperamental boyfriends.

In the write-up, she says that such a decision is a smart move that any lady dreaming of a good marital future can make for herself.

“Now to the younger ladies – if your boyfriend has already started treating you that way don’t even dream of marrying him! Believe in yourself, work hard to make your dreams and aspirations come true, and make an effort to be financially independent,” she wrote. 

The write-up is in response to the recent reports that some wives have died from spousal violence.

According to Ms. Tetteh, her write-up is out of the experience she gained while a young lawyer who was doing pupilage at the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA –Ghana which was providing pro-bono legal services to battered wives on toxic marriages.

Madam Hannah Tetteh who works with the UN as the Secretary General’s Special Representative to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union, had a healthy dose of anecdotal stories in the write-up.

“I still remember the lady who was badly beaten by her husband when she stopped him from “disciplining” their eight-year-old daughter because from the story she had narrated given the amount of beating the child had already received she feared their child would be badly injured if she did not intervene. From her narration of events and from the injuries that she herself had sustained it appeared that this was a man with a vicious temper! “

She continued: “The sad thing was that even then as she sat in front of me she told me that she couldn’t contemplate leaving him. The interesting thing, in this case, was that she had come to the office with her mother and her daughter and it was her mother who was insisting that she leave the house and further insisted that her daughter come with her to our office. The grandmother was a retired teacher and wanted advice as to what legal action could be taken to protect her child and grandchild.”

Ms. Tetteh urged women and girls to learn from the onset to be financially independent so that they can always have a choice in relationships and marriages.