A GNA feature By Benjamin Akoto, GNA
Sunyani (Bono), Oct. 14, GNA – Nana Akosua Daapu Dorcas Tagba, a queen-mother and a teacher understood and realised that saving a17-year-old girl from her father’s sexual abuses and escapades requires more than a lip service.
Nana Tagba provided comfort to the lass as she confided in her and narrated the ordeal she suffered from her father.
For Nana Tagba, a guidance and counseling coordinator, helping minor means confronting a family and challenging a practice being defended by tradition and risking her safety.
According to the queenmother, the girl, identified as Frema, had reportedly refused to give in to her father’s sexual advances and escapades which her elder sisters had gone through.
Nana Tagba is also the Head of the Catering and Hospitality Department at the Social Welfare Technical Institute.
She said the girl’s father had sexually abused his two other daughters in the pretext of preparing them for marriage.
However, for their mother, challenging her husband led her to being thrown her out of her marital home.
Rescue mission
Determined to intervene to save the girl, Nana Tagba said she travelled to her family village at a community in Nkoranza in the Bono East Region.
She said her first visit to the community yielded little progress because the family welcomed her. However, the girl’s father refused to engage with her.
According to Nana Tagba, the girl’s father questioned her why she was trying to interfere with the family’s culture and tradition. When she visited the family on another occasion, justified the sexual abuse of his daughters as a tradition.
Challenging the girl’s father directly, Nana Tagba said she even offered herself as a substitute to make the man reconsider his action against his children.
Sexual abuses
Not satisfied with her request, Nana Tagba explained that she was left with no other option than to explain to the girl’s father what incest and sexual abuses were and the consequences of his escapades.
She said her intervention yielded a positive response, saying that Frema had happily married and moved from her parents to her marital home.
However, for Nana Tagba, the outcome came at a personal cost.
Intervention cost and risk
According to Nana Tagba, she personally funded his trips, facing uncertainty each time she went to the girl’s village.
Sensing danger, she said she informed friends and colleagues about her third visit to the community for security reasons.
Nana Tagba’s experiences illustrate the risks confronting teachers, counsellors and community advocates who worked on similar cases involving relations and influential people in the local communities.
Speaking at a training workshop in Sunyani, Nana Tagba urged the participants to remain committed to protecting survivors of sexual abuse.
The training was organised by the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) under its EmpowHer Project, with support from Global Affairs Canada.
Nana Tagba’s account also raises questions about why individuals ought to bear the cost of rescuing and protecting vulnerable children without adequate institutional support.
Stakeholders’ opinions
Madam Lydia Effah Duodu, the Sunyani Municipal Education Service Coordinator for the School Health Education Programme (SHEP), noted that family pressure, stigma and financial dependence often discouraged survivors from reporting cases of sexual abuses and exploitation.
She regretted that children between 10 and 13 years were abused by their teachers, peers, families and relations.
Madam Duodu worried that efforts made to pursue those cases were often undermined by people seeking to protect the alleged perpetrators because of family connections and social bonds and economic status.
“Sometimes, people come around to plead because the person involved is either somebody’s father, a chief ‘s son or a politician’s son and they tried to persuade you to drop such cases,” she stated.
She noted that children who depended on relatives or guardians might be particularly vulnerable, saying that reporting sexual and related abuses could mean risking their sources of livelihoods.
“In fact, the survivors need more than encouragement to speak out. They required safe accommodation, counselling and sustained assistance,” Mad Duodu stated.
Advocate for Shelters
The participants called on the government to establish shelters at the regional levels for rescue survivors.
Madam Duodu noted that the lack of safe accommodation often forced the relevant institutions and advocates to return survivors to environments where they could face further harm.
“The major challenge is that when we rescue some of these children, we are sometimes forced to return them to the same environment because there are no shelters where we can keep them safely”, she added.
Mad Duodu noted that some wives remained in abusive homes because they had nowhere else to go.
Mr Joseph Nakpandom, a teacher at HAYLLIS International School also called for expeditious investigations on cases of sexual abuses, saying that delay in securing safe accommodation could expose the survivors to further harm.
He urged educational institutions, social welfare institutions, law enforcement agencies and relevant stakeholders to strengthen collaboration too.
Law enforcement
Madam Duodu also criticised attempts to settle sexual abuse cases privately, saying pressure from families and community members could undermine accountability.
She said suspected cases ought to be investigated promptly and fairly, irrespective of the social standing and financial status of the perpetrator.
Mr Maxwell Ayamba, the Youth Programme Officer at PPAG noted that weak enforcement of laws and institutional codes of conduct remained some major challenges.
He noted that inadequate accountability could encourage further abuses, calling for the prosecution of perpetrators of sexual related violence against girls to serve as deterrent to like- minded others.
PPAG Training
Mr Ayamba explained that the PPAG ‘s training was designed to empower teachers to recognise some signs of sexual abuse and exploitation as well as to guide students also and assist survivors to access appropriate support services.
He noted that some young girls might not recognise inappropriate sexual advances from adults or peers as abusive because they lacked the required knowledge.
Mr Ayamba said with the training, the participants could also sensitize students to understand their rights, identify warning signs and seek assistance.
They would be empowered and to refer cases to the appropriate institutions.
Call for action
Frema’s experience demonstrates the difference a trusted adult can make, but it exposes the limitations of relying on an individual’s courage to protect vulnerable children.
The country therefore requires stronger child-protection systems, accessible shelters, confidential reporting channels and sustained psychosocial and legal support for survivors.
It is also imperative that schools adopt clear safeguarding and referral procedures, while teachers and counsellors receive professional guidance and appropriate security support.
Law enforcement agencies must also investigate allegations promptly and fairly, ensuring that family pressure and social influence do not determine whether cases proceed.
The writer believes that sustained public education is equally important to challenge harmful practices, outmoded traditional practices, discourage victim-blame and empower children to understand their rights.
Additionally, national response ought to move beyond awareness campaigns to ensure that survivors are protected, allegations properly investigated and perpetrators prosecuted.
Frema’s ordeals underscores a broader message, as a child should have to depend solely on the courage of an individual for rescue.
For survivors, access to education, healthcare, psychosocial support and, where necessary, financial assistance remains essential to rebuilding their lives.
In fact, no Ghanaian child ought to rely on the personal sacrifices of others escape sexual abuse and exploitation because every survivor deserves safety, support and a fair opportunity to seek justice.
GNA
Edited by Dennis Peprah/Benjamin Mensah
Writer: Benjamin Akoto
Writer’s email address: [email protected]