Cases of defilement and incest are now common in the Tano North Municipality of the Ahafo Region, Madam Angelina Aboagyewaa Appiah, the Tano North Municipal Director of the Social Welfare Department has said.
She said the municipality had since January 2025 recorded five cases of defilement, mostly linked to incest, saying that alcoholism and substance abuse were identifiable factors that influenced the perpetrators to commit the crime.
Madam Appiah said though perpetrators had been prosecuted, many of the cases remained unreported because the victims and their families feared societal stigmatisation.
She added that certain belief systems and poverty were also fueling transactional sex, and child marriage and teenage pregnancy in the municipality, and called for stakeholder support to bring the situation under control.
Madam Appiah made the call when speaking at a stakeholder meeting and the launch of the implementation of Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV) campaign held at Koforidua, near Duayaw-Nkwanta, the municipal capital.
It was attended by chiefs and queens, representatives from the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVSSU), Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and religious organisations.
The German Development Cooperation (GIZ) is supporting the MIHOSO International Foundation, a Non-governmental Organisation working to promote the welfare of the vulnerable to implement the campaign.
Madam Appiah said SGBV remained a serious crime and worst form of human rights abuse punishable by law and urged traditional and community leaders to ensure that cases were not settled in homes.
Victor Osei, the Tano North Municipal Director of CHRAJ, said: “our fundamental human rights are not privilege, but entitlement” and called for intensified public education and awareness creation on SGBV.
He said though some people might try to take advantage of others, public education would enlighten and empower unsuspected and innocent victims and potential ones, calling for the prosecution of perpetrators too.
Chief Inspector Dorothy Dadzie, the Tano North Municipal Coordinator of the DOVVSU expressed concern about interference of traditional and religious leaders, slowing down prosecution of suspects of defilement and other SGBV related cases.
She pleaded with them to rather stay away and allow the law to take course on the suspects to serve as deterrent to like-minded others.
C/Insp Dadzie also called on the stakeholders to help tackle the growing trend of stigmatization of victims and their families.
In a highlight, Godfred Tabanye Wuliyeng, the Head of Programmes, MIHOSO, explained that the campaign titled “Rise up: Uniting Communities to prevent SGBV Against Women and Girls in Bono East and Ahafo Regions” would be implemented in seven months.
He said the campaign would intensify public education and awareness creation on SGBV in 10 communities in the Tano North including Yamfo, Bomaa, Susuanso, Tanoso, Techire, Adrobaa, Afrisipakrom, Subonpang.
Wuliyeng said the contributions of stakeholders were required for the campaign to achieve desirable outcomes and urged the stakeholders to support it.
