Accra, July 23, GNA - An estimated 278 victims were still under the practice of Trokosi in some parts of Volta Region and the Ga Dangbe area. Research findings sponsored by Australian Aid Agency and carried out by the Department of Geography of the University of Ghana noted that the

victims comprised people who were living within the immediate shrine vicinity and also with surrogate parents. Professor Sosthenes Kufogbe, Senior Lecturer and Development Consultant, Department of Geography and Resource Development, said of the total number, about 53.9 per cent were in the Ketu District where most shrines were still active. "In spite of the large number of releases and benefits received from the intervention packages, the North Tongu District still accounts for about 20.5 per cent."

Professor Kufogbe said the issue of numbers had remained the most illusive in the study due to the secret nature of the practice.

"Trokosi like all other forms of female ritual bondage is shrouded in secrecy and victims as well as associates of the practice are under constant fear of the power of the gods to punish and even kill traitors."

He said there was the need to review intervention strategies and perceptions adding, programmes and strategies for Trokosi transformation involved various forms of advocacy, negotiations and interventions. The study also found that various liberation packages had been targeted at the shrine priests for liberating the subjects while specific provisions have also been made for the victims.

It recommended that ongoing programmes of advocacy and civic education should be targeted all stakeholders, shrine priests, subjects and their families in the entire communities and accelerated to ensure total elimination of Trokosi.

"There is the need to take a more critical look at the law and its implementation mechanisms since the mistrust of affected persons in the formal judicial system appears to make Trokosi a more readily available option," the study said.

The study also recommended an upgrade of release packages particularly the skills training projects for total liberation and rehabilitation saying, this strategy should fit other ongoing poverty alleviation programmes in the districts such as the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty.

Mr Daniel Dugan, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs, noted that government was doing well in the battle against all cultural practices that were dehumanizing. "When a society decides to protect wrong doers, it becomes very difficult for the law to get at them."

Vincent Vorjorgbe, Research Associate and Lecturer, University of Ghana, noted that females continued to bear the brunt of unacceptable violations of rights and added that research was therefore imperative to understand the social and cultural factors involved.

Mrs. Comfort Adu, Head of Public Relations, CHRAJ, noted that in spite of constitution and laws which forbade abhorrent cultural practices, FGM, Trokosi and injurious widowhood rites still existed. Ms Mercy Senahe, a liberated victim, who narrated her ordeal, said she abhorred the practice. Ms Senahe was taken to the shrine at the age of eight because her grand mother stole an earring, and at age 12, the fetish knew her carnally, she left the shrine with four children, three girls and a boy. Trokosi means "Slave or wife to a deity" and the practice involved virgin girls serving at shrines as reparation of offences committed by members of the family. Some inhuman treatment often meted out to them by the shrine priests and elders include sexual abuse, physical assault and forced labour.