Trokosi cannot be wiped away easily

Bator (V/R), Aug 25, GNA - The practice of young virgin girls providing life-long service in shrines in atonement for alleged wrongs committed by their relatives (Trokosi) might take quite a measure of commitment and perseverance to eradicate.

Osofo Kofitse Ahadzi, a priest of the Africania Mission and Secretary to the Korle Shrine at Bator and other hard line shrine owners, on Saturday gave a notice to this effect.

Osofo Ahadzi, who was speaking at a workshop organized by the Baptist Relief and Development Agency (BREDA) of the Ghana Baptist Convention on Trokosi, criticized anti-Trokosi groups and campaigners as peddling falsehood and unduly benefiting from their external collaborators under the guise of liberators. He and his group said the Trokosi practice ensures public security, justice, controls immorality and crime which were rife in the Ghanaian society.

"We would uphold this heritage bequeathed to us", Osofo Ahadzi asserted. But the Trokosi Abolishing Fellowship International (TAPI) a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) called for the relaxation of the practice and suggested other alternatives such as cash, drinks and animals as atonement rather than young virgins.

The two bodies were unanimous that constitutional provisions, legislation and force cannot eliminate the practice and proposed educational campaigns alongside the engagement of the proponents of the practice in extensive dialogue on the way forward. Mr Joseph Nuertey, Acting Volta Regional Director of CHRAJ said the practice violated the dignity, beliefs, freedom and equality of the victims in contravention of the constitution and prescribed prosecution for persons who engaged in it.

Mr Joseph Awudi Gudri, President of TAPI in reference to the socio-economic effects of the practice on victims, said it made them deficient and limited in their living conditions, productivity and literacy with long term physiological problems. He proposed the empowerment and resettlement of Trokosi priests alongside the women in any liberation effort. Mr Javis Djokoto, BREDA Director said the forum was not meant for blaming or condemning anyone, but to facilitate the sharing of ideas on the future of the practice. The Trokosi practice is found in parts of the Volta and Greater Accra Regions in Ghana and in Togo and Benin. 25 Aug 08