CO-OPERATE WITH POLICE TO CONTROL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE (PAGE 11, MAY 1, 2010)

the National Co-ordinator of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, Chief Superintendent Elizabeth Dassah, has called for maximum co-operation from people in the Upper West Region to help the police control crime, including domestic violence and sexual assault.
Speaking during an interaction with the Upper West Regional Minister, Mr Mahmud Khalid, in Wa, Madam Dassah said the days of what is termed as Tijaa Bunyeni, meaning “We are all one” must be over, since that perception was making policing in the region very difficult, sometimes resulting in confrontations between security personnel and some members of the community.
She said information from the police indicated that sometimes when suspects were picked up to the police stations to be investigated for cases mostly relating to domestic violence and sexual assault, some people tended to intervene on behalf of the suspects and that often made investigations difficult.
Chief Superintendent Dassah, who is a native of the region, was not happy that some people in the region were still practising bethrothal, where girls who are in school were still given out to elderly men to marry without any protest from any quarters.
She said such practices were affecting the retention of girls in school and advised victims and families of victims of sexual assault to report such cases.
The National DOVVSU Co-ordinator visited the region with Assistant Superintendent of Police, (ASP) Freeman Tettey, to assess the implementation of DOVVSU projects, funded by United Nations Development Fund (UNDP).
She noted that even though a number of people were abused sexually, many of such cases were either withdrawn from the police stations or did not even get to the security officials irrespective of the seriousness of the offence.
She stressed the need for intensive education and sensitisation on issues bothering on sexual assault to encourage victims to develop the confidence to report such cases.
She said it was the dream of the DOVVSU to establish crisis response centres which would have counsellors, clinical psychologists and officers from the social welfare department to make the DOVVSU offices and such professionals easily accessible to the people.
The Regional Minister, Mr Khalid, described the level of sexual assaults and family interference in such cases as worrying and called for a multi faceted approach in dealing with such cases.
“Seriously, I think that we need everybody on board, especially traditional rulers, teachers and parents, so that we can, as a unit, take a look at some aspects of our culture which do not fit into modern practices and revise them” Mr. Khalid pointed out, saying “You would be surprised that some educated traditional rulers do not even see anything wrong with bethrotal”
Records indicate that the regional office of the DOVVSU received a total of 56 cases from January to March this year. They included six cases of assault, two abduction and defilement cases respectively as well as one case of incest.