Justice Dotse Praised

Samuel Ahenunya, father of three and resident of Torgorme in the North Tongu District, has commended Supreme Court judge Justice Jones Dotse for highlighting the sad event that led to the death of his wife. Ahenunya, a widower, lost his wife Dzabah Tetteh, 23, during child birth and Justice Dotse highlighted the circumstances that led to the woman�s death during the hearing of the election petition last year. During the hearing of a contempt charge against General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, Justice Dotse said there were a lot of issues of national interest which were hindering the development of the country and those were issues to be talked about by politicians. He made reference to a woman who bled to death after she was delivered of her baby due to the lack of a hospital facility in Torgorme, a town in the Volta Region. Justice Dotse summarised that the woman died because a Volta River Authority (VRA) main gate that served as an exit and entry route from the village to and from Akuse and the Odumase-Krobo Municipality was locked and there was no VRA security man present to open the gate for the labouring woman to reach hospital on time. He noted that �our leaders on both sides, government and opposition, must address such issues. If you want people in your village to hear your voice, talk about such issues; how do we fend for the people of Torgorme to ensure that at 11pm when somebody is bitten by a snake and he has to be taken to hospital he is not locked out of hospital?� Ahenunya told The Finder that he misses the financial support his late wife provided to the family when she was alive. He narrated that sometime in the night of January last year, his wife, who was showing some labour pains, was paddled in a canoe across the Volta River in a bid to access the Akuse Government Hospital in the Odumase-Krobo Municipality. He said accessing the Akuse Government Hospital through the Volta River was the shortest route. �So we crossed the river and then quickly boarded a taxi to rush my wife to the hospital. Unfortunately when we got to the only VRA gate through which we would pass and drive straight to the hospital, it was locked. �The taxi driver and I alighted and shouted for the security man around to open the gate but there was no security man on duty,� Ahenunya narrated. He said the driver had to make a U-turn to the river bank where after several hours of struggling to get his wife to the Akuse Government Hospital she was pronounced dead on arrival. Ahenunya, who is a carpenter, painter and sign writer, said he then realised that his world had crumpled on him �because my wife, in whom I found solace and hope of getting on in life, was gone forever and leaving me to single-handedly cater for our three young children.� He gave the names of the children as Christian Fiagbenu, 5; Harriet Fiagbenu, 3; and Lawrencia Fiagbenu, who is six months old. At the moment, Ahenunya�s children, Christian and Harriet, who are both in school, and little Lawrencia, are putting up with his younger sister at Torgorme. Since the death of his wife, Ahenunya said life has not been easy for him, �but for the sake of my children, I am doing everything possible to ensure that I give them the best in life.�