A Ghanaian human rights organisation has condemned Frank Amoakohene, the Ashanti regional minister, over sexually explicit and degrading remarks he directed at a senior opposition figure, describing the comments as an attack on the dignity of women in public life.
The Gender Centre for Empowering Development (GenCED) said the minister’s words, published on his Facebook page, were misogynistic and incompatible with the conduct expected of a public official.
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The target of the remarks, Akosua Manu, known publicly as Kozie, is a former deputy chief executive of Ghana’s National Youth Authority and one of the lead communicators for the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The dispute began when Amoakohene shared an image on Facebook showing the NPP’s 2028 flagbearer and former Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, in diapers, a post that cast the candidate as a child. Manu hit back, telling the minister to concentrate on governing the Ashanti Region instead of trading insults online. She mocked his appearance, urging him to have his clothing loosened so it would not, in her words, cut off oxygen to his brain, and said the region needed him lucid enough to deal with its problems.
The minister’s response turned sexual. Writing in Twi, he posted: “Akosua kumaa, wokon dɔ anaa? You want to have a taste of it.” GenCED and local interpretation hold that the phrase “Akosua kumaa” is a euphemism for the female genitalia, which made the post a crude sexual proposition rather than a political reply.
The exchange spread quickly across social media and other platforms, drawing public attention before GenCED intervened with a formal statement.
In a statement signed by its executive director, Esther Tawiah, GenCED said the comments were deeply offensive and reduced a woman’s contribution to public service to a sexual stereotype. “Women already face discrimination, intimidation, online abuse, character assassination and threats to their personal safety when they enter politics and sexualised insults from public officials reinforce a hostile environment that discourages women from seeking leadership,” the organisation said.
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Drawing a line between disagreement and abuse, the organisation explained that debate over ideas, policies and leadership is a normal part of democratic life, it said, but sexual harassment, misogyny and gender based humiliation have no place in it. The group declared solidarity with Manu and with other women who face harassment and discrimination in public life.
The organisation tied its objection to Ghana’s Code of Conduct and Ethics for ministers and political appointees, which requires office holders to use decorous language even under provocation, to avoid offensive or provocative expressions, and to protect the dignity of public office. The minister’s posts fall short of those requirements, GenCED said, and raise questions about whether senior appointees are being held to the rules that govern them.
GenCED demanded a public apology and retraction of the remarks, urging political parties to discipline members whose conduct brings the political space into disrepute, and pressed the Office of the President and state institutions to enforce the code of conduct rather than leave it on paper.
The organisation also called on media houses and social media platforms to take a firmer stance against misogynistic content and gender based abuse, and appealed to citizens to stop treating the abuse of women in politics as normal.
