Contribute to fight against harmful cultural practices: Rev. Father Agbezuga tells women
A legal practitioner, Rev. Father Sylvester Agbezuga of the Ho Diocese, of the Catholic Church has urged women to make meaningful contributions towards the fight against harmful social and cultural practices that affect women and children’s rights.
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He said people meted out all sorts of violence to women and children, but went scot-free in the name of culture and tradition, and noted that some women were also involved in the perpetration of these harmful practices.
He said women should not condone those practices but rather speak against them in their communities and report the perpetrators to the authorities.
Caution to perpetrators
Rev. Father Agbezuga was speaking at an advocacy training workshop on gender-based violence and women’s right protection in Hohoe.
The workshop, organised by the Ho Diocesan Catholic Women Association, was aimed at campaigning against discrimination against women on gender grounds.
He said some practices that violated human rights still persisted in the communities because people were not enlightened on those bad practices and, therefore, did not perceive them as criminal, stressing that practices such as widowhood rites, inappropriate inheritance systems and child marriage still persisted due to lack of education, pointing out that early marriage for instance constituted defilement and must not be condoned.
Tradition and violence
He said it was unfortunate that some people hid behind poverty, irresponsibility, temperament, suppression and male dominance to inflict physical violence and sex abuse on women and children.
The Rev. Father reiterated that ignorance of the law was not an excuse, and cautioned that perpetrators of domestic violence were liable to imprisonment or a fine, if found guilty.
The President of the Ho Catholic Women Association, Madam Florence Ofori, asked women to use every platform available to them to intensify the campaign against these harmful practices.
Presentation
In a related development, the association has donated food items and detergents worth GH¢5,000 to the Volta School for the Deaf at Hohoe, as part of its 2016 Annual Delegates’ Conference.
Making the presentation, Madam Florence Ofori encouraged the teachers to do their best to transform the lives of students in the school to become an asset to the nation and contribute their quota to national development.
The Headmistress of the school, Madam Didi Ntim, thanked the group and called on other public-spirited Ghanaians to emulate the gesture.