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The Bosomtwe District Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Cornelius S. Dery, has advised queenmothers, parents and family members to desist from pleading and intervening for suspects in rape and defilement cases.

He advised queenmothers to rather educate and encourage their people in their communities to report such suspects to the police to face the laws of the land.

This, according to him, would serve as a deterrent to other people and also ensure that culprits were punished.

Making a presentation at a workshop for queenmothers at Kuntanase, the district director lamented the refusal by some victims of domestic violence to report to the police for the necessary action.

The workshop, which was on the Domestic Violence Act 2007 (Act 732), was organised by the Cultural Department of the Bosomtwe District Assembly.

Participants in the workshop
In attendance were queenmothers from the Bosomtwe District, representatives of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), the Ghana Education Service, the Kuntanase Traditional Council and some members of the community.

Act 732,  which came into force in 2007, seeks to protect the rights of the marginalised, the vulnerable, especially women and children, who are mostly prone to domestic violence. 

Mr Dery said research conducted by the Gender Centre on Violence Against Women and Children  of the Ark Foundation in Ghana had discovered that 27 per cent of women in the country had been sexually assaulted in their lifetime,  while 95 per cent of women did not report incidents of rape to the police, with one out of four women being hurt by a partner who refused to provide money and foodstuffs for the upkeep of the home.

Implementation of DV Act
Mr Dery stated that the successful implementation of the Domestic Violence  (DV) Act depended mainly on the contribution of all, especially the victims and their families in general.

The district director called on queenmothers to lead the advocacy for the successful implementation of the DV Act which stood the chance of protecting many people from being abused in various ways.

The District Chief Executive for Bosomtwe, Madam Veronica Antwi-Adjei, who was the Guest of Honour at the function, urged the queenmothers to be fair in all their deliberations and unite with their subjects to enable them to approach them easily with their challenges.

She urged them to be at the forefront of development in their areas by spearheading issues that stood the chance of improving the lives of their people at all times.

Nana Premoh Kwagyan, the Krontihene of Kuntanase, called on the queenmothers to bring all women in their communities together to be part of the educational process and other development initiatives to improve their lives.