Ministry commends Okyenhene - For supporting fight against FGM

Story: Salome Donkor
The Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) has stated that it is continuously seeking the support and collaboration of all stakeholders in the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM).
It described the call by the Okyenhene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin for the prosecution of traditional rulers found to be promoting the negative cultural practice as very welcome and commended the chief for his support towards the fight against the abolition of the practice.
A statement issued from the Public Relations Unit of MOWAC, dated October 14, 2008 made reference to the Okyenhene’s call made at a durbar organised to mark the ninth anniversary of his enstoolment as Okyenehe and said the chief’s support for women’s empowerment and child education, is laudable.
The statement said under its responsibility for advancing the welfare of women and children, the ministry has taken note of the call and pointed out that the ministry since its establishment has championed the fight against FGM as part of its mandate of protecting the rights of women and children.
It said a lot of activities, including advocacy and sensitisation workshops have been undertaken in areas where FGM is practised to sensitise communities, community leaders and traditional authorities on the dangers of the practice and the fact that it infringes on the human rights if its victims and these interventions, have helped to reduce FGM considerably.
Health experts say FGM is an invasive and painful surgical procedure that is often performed without anaesthetic on girls before puberty.
Various sources estimate that from about 60 to 140 million women in the world have been circumcised. Globally, an average of about four girls a minute continue to suffer from the practice.
The result is that sexual feelings are either inhibited or terminated. Sexual intercourse is often extremely painful for the woman. Childbirth often involves a Caesarian section .
FGM has been a social custom in Northern Africa and is occasionally performed in North America and Europe on girls of families who have immigrated from countries where FGM is common
In Ghana, although some harmful traditional practices, such as widowhood rites and female genital mutilation have been criminalised under the Criminal Code Amendment Act 1998 (Act 554), women are still a long way from achieving equality and these practices persist in some communities due to existing stereotyped conceptions of women caused by socio-cultural factors which perpetuate discrimination based on sex.
A BBC news carried in the October 17, edition of the Daily Graphic indicated that a community in eastern Uganda has banned the deeply rooted practice of female genital mutilation (FGM).
It quoted an official from the
Kapchorwa District chairman Nelson Chelimo as saying that it was an "outmoded" custom and "not useful" for the community's women.
Some of the side effects of the cultural practice can include, hemorrhage, shock, painful scars, keloid formation, labial adherence, clitoral cysts, chronic urinary infection, and chronic pelvic infections. Later in life, it can cause kidney stones, sterility, sexual dysfunction, depression, and various gynaecological and obstetric problems.
The FGM Education and Networking Project, which maintains a regularly updated list of countries, population groups, and the types of operation performed estimates that 90 per cent or more of the girls in Djibouti, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Sudan (North) have undergone the practice.
The same source indicates that over 50 per cent of the girls in Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria and Togo have also undergone FGM.