The Alliance for Women in the Media has condemned the violence suffered by Portia Asantewaa Duah at the hands of a bouncer at Kona Bar in Osu in Accra.
The Alliance in a statement said the issue must be treated as a matter of criminal assault and called for the bouncer to be sanctioned.
A bouncer at the bar on Friday reportedly slapped a female customer twice after a misunderstanding over the purchase of drinks at the bar.
Ms Portia Asantewa Duah was with a group of friends at the restaurant and was asked to leave by a bouncer, named BB, who alleged they had not bought drinks and were simply occupying space.
One of Miss Duah’s friends explained that they had bought drinks; the waitress had simply cleared their table.
The bouncer did not accept their explanation and when Ms Portia approached them to explain the situation, he told Ms Portia to keep quiet and subsequently dealt her two slaps on the cheek.
Ms Portia sustained swollen and red eyes from the slap.
Her shocked friends approached the manager to relay what had happened. The Manager’s response was that they should let the incident go.
The Alliance for Women in the Media in the statement signed by its convenor, Shamima Muslim says the bar must issue a policy for dealing with violence at the workplace.
“The Alliance for Women in the Media said it,
- supports the victim
- condemns the alleged violence of the bouncer named BB.
- requires this be treated as a matter of criminal assault.
- requires bouncer face trial and sanction
- requires The Manager must be sanctioned for their unacceptable response
- requires Kona to issue a public apology
- requires Kona to issue policy for dealing with violence in their workplace
The Alliance for Women in the Media (AWMA) is a Women in Media and Communications advocacy and empowerment group made up of over 150 professionals from across the media industry in Ghana.
Meanwhile, the Bar has issued an apology to the victim via its Facebook page. It said it has instituted disciplinary measures against the bouncer.
It said;
We, the Managment of Kona Cafe and Grill sincerely apologizes to our cherished customers for the unwarranted behaviour of our bouncer last night.
We wish to bring to the attention of our customers that we do not condone the behaviour of our staff especially violence against women, as that does not reflect the values of our establishment, And as such, take full responsibility for his actions. We plead with the general public to forgive us our failings, We learn from such experiences.
We acknowledge the distress and embarrassment caused to our customers and we have already taken the necessary disciplinary actions against him.
We apologise once again and promise that such an incident will not occur again.
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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana