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Reconciling Human Rights and Traditional

Practices: The Anti- Trokosi Campaign in Gnana.

Robert Kwame Ameh

Canadian journal of law and society / Volume 19 / Issue 02 / August 2004, pp 51 - 72

DOI: 10.1017/S0829320100008139, Published online: 18 July 2014

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0829320100008139

How to cite this article:

Robert Kwame Ameh (2004). Reconciling Human Rights and Traditional Practices:
The Anti- Trokosi Campaign in Gnana. . Canadian journal of law and society, 19, pp
51-72 doi:10.1017/S0829320100008139

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 Reconciling Human Pights and I raditional Practices :
I he Anti- Irokosi Champaign in v^nana

Robert Kwame Ameh

Introduction
Human rights literature is rife with numerous examples of traditional
practices that have become contentious social and academic issues due to
their violations of the rights of individuals and identifiable groups in society.
A key issue that emerges from the controversy surrounding these practices is
how to reform or eradicate the perceived negative practices. This paper
explores how conflicts in the application of international human rights
norms to traditional practices could be resolved to ensure that individual
rights are adequately protected. The main issue I grapple with is how we can
effectively apply international human rights norms in non-western cultures.
This question presupposes certain assumptions: (i) it makes sense to
apply international human rights norms to other cultures; (ii) but doing so
presents some tensions, dilemmas, and challenges; (iii) and because of (ii),
the process of applying international human rights norms to other cultures
has to be done with care. The campaign against the traditional religious
system of trokosi found among some ethnic groups in West Africa, in
particular the anti-trokosi campaign in Ghana, is analyzed in support of the
argument that since human rights and traditional religion are both systems of
hegemony, a solution based on education and dialogue rather than a formal,
abstract, legalistic approach would better serve to protect the rights of
individuals. The paper is a summary of some of the findings in my doctoral
thesis,1 which utilized ethnographic methods of observation, field
interviews, archival research and inductive analysis.

The Trokosi System

The trokosi system is a traditional social control mechanism anchored in
religious beliefs among the Dangme, Ewe, and Fon ethnic groups in Ghana,
Togo, and Benin in West Africa. A female child, who is a virgin, is usually
selected by her family to serve in a shrine in atonement for crimes of the
family, even though boys could also serve time this way. Such a child
becomes known as a trokosi, an Ewe word, which could be variously
translated as "wife of a god," "a person consecrated to a god," or "slave of a
god." The Dangme name for a trokosi is woryokwe. Some trokosis could be
as young as 7 years old.

1
Robert Ameh, Child Bondage in Ghana: A Contextual Policy Analysis of Trokosi. (Ph. D.
dissertation. School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, 2001) [unpublished].
Canadian Journal of Law and Society / Revue Canadienne Droit et Sociiti, 2004,
Volume 19, no. 2, pp. 51-72
52 Robert Kwame Ameh
The process starts when a crime occurs and the offender is unknown. The
victim or victim's family approaches a shrine and requests the services of
the gods to find and punish the offender. The belief is that the gods would
start their work by causing tragedies and mishaps, including sudden deaths,
in the family of the offender, starting from its most prominent members. As
is the norm among Ewes who believe in finding truth in all situations of life,
the offender's family would approach a shrine and ask for an explanation of
the calamities befalling them.2 The gods would, through the shrine priests
and other mediums which abound in Eweland, let the family know that one
of its members had committed a crime. If the victims sought the services of a
troxovi shrine, then the offending family will have to offer a child in
atonement for the offence.3 "Tro" means a deity or god, "xo" means accept,
and "vi" means "child" in the Ewe language. Thus, the name troxovi means a
god that accepts children as atonement. The structure of a troxovi shrine is
hierarchically arranged usually with a male priest at the apex and other male
and female functionaries assigned specific duties.
In the shrine, the girls work on the farm, do the household chores, and
assist the priests in the performance of religious rituals. Their movement
beyond the confines of the shrine is restricted while clothing is largely
limited to the infamous blue-black piece of cloth and the identification raffia
necklace. They may not partake in the produce from their labor on the farm.
Their upkeep in the shrine is the responsibility of their families though in
practice, most families hardly maintain any contact with their children once
they are sent to the shrine. Ideally, whereas trokosis may serve in a shrine
for up to three years, the reality for most trokosis is that families are not
keen on performing the liberation rites that mark the end of servitude in the
shrine. This, combined with the minimal family contact with the girls in the
shrine gives a sense of abandonment and makes trokosi servitude for life.
Trokosis as old as 65 years have been encountered in shrines.
As pointed out elsewhere, considerable variety exists in the practice of
trokosi based on the size of a shrine and practicing community.4 The fiashidi
system is a variant of the trokosi system among the Anlo-Ewes. Under this
system, the women opt to serve in a shrine on their volition. The women are
regarded as "wives of the gods," can own property, and are generally treated
with respect. The priests and other functionaries cannot have sex with
fiashidis even though the priest can marry a fixed number of fiashidis after

2
See Chris Abotchie, Social Control in Traditional Southern Eweland of Ghana: Relevance
for Modem Crime Prevention (Accra: Ghana Universities Press, 1997); Christian R. Gaba,
"The Religious Life of the People" in Francis Agbodeka, ed., A Handbook of Eweland
vol.1: The Ewes of Southeastern Ghana (Accra: Woeli Publishing Services, 1997) 85; and
G. K. Nukunya, "Social and Political Organization" in Francis Agbodeka, ed., A
Handbook of Eweland: The Ewes of Southeastern Ghana, vol 1 (Accra: Woeli Publishing
Services, 1997) 42.
3
See Abotchie and Gaba, ibid..
4
See Robert Ameh, "Trokosi (Child Slavery) in Ghana: A Policy Approach" (1998) 1
Ghana Studies 40.
 Reconciling Human Rights and Traditional Practices 53

performing the accepted marital rights.5 Generally, the fiashidi system is

regarded as the more humane version of trokosi. This contrasts sharply with
the trokosi system among the Tongu-Ewes where the girls are regarded as
"slaves of the gods" and are required to offer sexual services to the priests
and are sometimes abused by other shrine functionaries. It is this latter
version of trokosi practice that became a controversial national social policy
issue since the early 1990s and is the subject matter of this paper.

Human Rights Violations of the Trokosi System

Several scholars, foreign and local journalists, human rights practitioners,
and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) with diverse backgrounds
and interests have highlighted the human rights violations of the trokosi
system, which include bondage, sexual abuse and exploitation of labor.6
Proponents of the trokosi system represented by Dr. Sammy Dartey-
Kumordzie, Osofo Kofi Ameve and the African Renaissance Mission

See Sandra E. Greene, Gender, Ethnicity, and Social Change on the Upper Slave Coast: A
History of the Anlo-Ewe (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1996) at 87-88.
Scholars, foreign and local journalists, human rights practitioners, and Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGOs) such as the following have all drawn attention to the human rights
violation entailed in trokosi practice: see generally, International Needs Ghana, Report of
the First National Workshop on Trokosi System in Ghana (Accra, Ghana: International
Needs Ghana, 1995) [First National Workshop]; International Needs Ghana, Report of the
Second National Workshop on Trokosi System in Ghana (Accra, Ghana: International
Needs Ghana, 1998) [Second National Workshop]; and International Needs Ghana, Report
of the First West Africa Sub-Regional Workshop on Trokosi (Accra, Ghana, International
Needs Ghana 2001) [Sub-Regional Workshop]; Anita Ababio, "The Legal Basis for
Abolishing the Trokosi System" in First National Workshop, ibid. 37; Robert Ameh,
"Trokosi (Child Slavery) in Ghana: A Policy Approach." (1998) 1 Ghana Studies 35; and
Ameh, supra note 1; A. E. Amoah, "1000 Girls Kept As Slave Wives (...) Under Trokosi
System" The Mirror (6 March 1993) 1; A. E. Amoah, "'Trokosi' in Retrospect" Daily
Graphic (6 June 1995) 5; A.E. Amoah, "'Trokosi' in Retrospect II" Daily Graphic (14
Junel995) 5; A. E. Amoah, "The Transformation of Trokosi" Daily Graphic (15 May
1998) 7; A. E. Amoah, "Integrated Approach to Trokosi Menace" Daily Graphic 7 (27
May 1998) 7; A. E. Amoah, "'Trokosi' is Illegal, so what?" Daily Graphic (10 November
1998) 7; Vincent Azumah, "No More! (...) Trokosi Virgins Rebel" The Mirror (16 April
1994) 1; Vincent Azumah, "Trokosi Priest Attacks Christians" The Mirror (3 June 1995)
3; Vincent Azumah, "Help Abolish Trokosi Cult" Daily Graphic (24 June 1995) 3; Emma
Brooker, "Slaves of the Fetish" Independent (June 16 1996) 12; Elom Dovlo and A. K.
Adzoyi, Report on Trokosi Institution (Legon-Accra: Department for the Study of
Religions, University of Ghana, 1995); Beth Duff-Brown, "Slavery Still Practiced in
Ghana" Associated Press, (9 February 1997), online: AP<http://
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19970209/V000431-020997-idx.htm (retrieved
15 March 1998); Howard W. French, "Ritual Slave of the Fetish Priest" The New York
Times (20 January 1997) 1 (the same article was reproduced in the The Vancouver Sun (25
January 1997) HI 1); Walter A. Pimpong, "Welcome Address" in First National
Workshop, ibid. 16; Walter Pimpong, "Welcome Address," in Second National Workshop,
ibid. 51; Emile F. Short, "Trokosi—Legal or Illegal?" in First National Workshop, ibid.
22; Emile F. Short, "Securing the Inalienable Rights of Trokosi Women and Children in
Bondage" in Second National Workshop, ibid. 73; Emile F. Short, "Harmonizing the
Laws, Policies, and Programs to Transform Ritual Servitude in the West Africa Sub-
Region" in International Needs Ghana, Report of the First Sub-Regional Workshop on
Ritual Servitude (Accra, Ghana, 2001) 63 [First Sub-Regional Workshop]; Amy Small
Bilyeu, "Trokosi - The Practice of Sexual Slavery in Ghana: Religious and Cultural
Freedom vs. Human Rights" (1999) 9 Ind. Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 457.
54 Robert Kwame Ameh
(popularly known as Afrikania Mission) have, on the contrary, vehemently
opposed this view of trokosi. They argue that the practice of trokosi is part
of African Traditional Religion (ATR) and culture, which derive their
legitimacy from the Ghanaian Constitution, hence any attack on trokosi is an
attack on freedom of religion, and hence, unconstitutional.7 Adherents and
practitioners of African Traditional Religion perceive human rights as
foreign, imported values that contradict African traditional values. In fact, in
Ghana, because the leading actors and groups in the sn\i-twkosi campaign
are Christians, as will be seen later in the article, the campaign has been
labeled a Christian attack on African Traditional Religion.8 To be fair to the
adherents of ATR, there is no doubt that any attempt to deal with the trokosi
issue, which is part of traditional religious practices of the Southern Ewe,
must take cognizance of the fact that the Ghanaian Constitution provides for
freedom of religion. This brings to the fore the main question I grapple with
in this paper, namely how we can reconcile human rights and controversial
traditional practices such as trokosi.
To address this question, one needs to understand some key features
common to all systems of human rights, religion, traditional and cultural
practices: they all (i) appeal to a higher order, morality or authority, (ii)
claim to be universally applicable, and (iii) claim the highest authority over
human life.9 Essentially, then, human rights, religion, and traditional
practices are all systems of hegemony. In this context, Abdullahi An-Na'im
and his associates have argued that in pluralistic societies, this situation (i)
creates conflict between the various value positions, as each tends to become
exclusive and competitive, pitting adherents against non-adherents; and (ii)
results in conflicting demands on people.10
So how can hegemonic systems be reconciled? An-Na'im et al. suggest
"critical dialogue" between the competing value positions in question. They
define critical dialogue as "a mutual search for a better understanding of

See Sammy Dartey-Kumordzie, "Re-defining Hu-Yehweh the Knowledge of Africa and

the Various Organs for Development of Human Resources" The Ghanaian Times (1 July
2001) 14; Sammy Dartey-Kumordzie, "Trokosi or Fiasidi: Pillar of Africa's Survival"
Weekly Spectator (15 July 1995) 5; Sammy Dartey-Kumordzie, Report on Fiasidi-Vestal
Virgins (Accra: Hu-Yehweh Society, n.d.); Sammy Dartey-Kumordzie, "Origin and the
Importance of Troxovi or Fiashidi (Trokosi)" (n.d.) [unpublished ]; and Sammy Dartey-
Kumordzie, "The Relevance of Trokosi (Fiasidi) in Modern Ghana" (n.d.) [unpublished].
Dr. Dartey-Kumordzie also expressed his views on trokosi in an interview for an article
"Trokosi - Virgins of the Gods or Concubines of Fetish Priests?" Progressive Utilization
Magazine (1994) 1:1, 2. See also, Afrikania Mission Report of Fact-Finding Mission to
Genuine Troxovi Shrines (Accra, Ghana: Afrikania Mission, 1998); Osofo Kofi Ameve,
"Speech Delivered at a Press Conference Held at the Art Centre" (13 June
2000)[unpublished]; and Osofo Kofi Ameve, "Address Delivered at the Meeting of the
Troxosi Shrines Held at Klikor Unity Park" (10 April 1999) [unpublished]. (Both speeches
are available at Afrikania Renaissance Mission, Accra, Ghana).
See Dr. Dartey-Kumordzie, Osofo Kofi Ameve and Afrikania Mission, ibid.
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im et al, eds., Human Rights and Religious Values: An Uneasy
Relationship? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,
1995) "Preface."
Ibid, at vii-xiii.
 Reconciling Human Rights and Traditional Practices 55

human life, a just and merciful society, nature, and ultimate reality."11 It is a
process whereby all "the difficult questions should be discussed in a
dialogical way, that is, openly with mutual understanding, reciprocal
witnessing and critical questioning."12 For as they rightly point out,
hegemonic systems are not static but dynamic. Writing more specifically
about religious systems, they point out that "religious traditions are
hermeneutical processes: they do develop, change - and sometimes -
improve in response to circumstances and in dialogue with their context."13
Similarly, Winston P. Nagan has argued that critical dialogue of this nature
can only take place in an atmosphere of mutual respect, understanding, and
sensitivity to the values and needs of all the parties involved.14 It is these
elements that pave the way for dialogue and negotiation.
It is my contention that such critical dialogue was key to the success of
the anti-trokosi campaign in Ghana. The rest of this paper will be devoted to
showing how this played out in Ghana's anti-trokosi campaign.

Trokosi Politics : Ghana's Anti-Trokosi Camapaign

The politics involved in Ghana's anti-trokosi campaign relates to how the
different participants in the trokosi controversy - several individuals, interest
groups, and institutions - strategized and saw the issue from a particular
perspective, each believing they are best serving the interests of trokosis and
the communities involved, and that other individuals and groups are doing a
disservice to the people. In the end, however, it was not parochial interests
and the pursuit of singular interests that won the liberation of thousands of
trokosis, but rather critical dialogue, sensitivity to the values and needs of all
the parties involved that led to the success of the campaign.
The available records credit Daniel K. Nyagbledsi as the first person to
have challenged the institution and practice of trokosi. He was a native of
Battor Agbetikpo in the Tongu Traditional Area, a major centre of trokosi
practice in Ghana. He petitioned the Secretary of Native Affairs about
trokosi practice at the Atigo Fetish Shrine at Battor in November 1919.15 In
his letter, he asked for help to stop the practice of sending girls and women
to the shrine in reparation for crimes committed by a family member. The
colonial Administration took a serious view of the issue, as J.T. Furley, the

" Ibid, atvii.

12
Ibid
13
Ibid.
14
Winston P. Nagan, "The African Human Rights Process: A Contextual Policy-Oriented
Approach" in Ronald Cohen, Goran Hyden and Winston P. Nagan, eds., Human Rights
and Governance in Africa (Gainsville: University of Florida Press, 1993) 87.
15
Daniel K. Nyagbledsi, letter to the Colonial Secretary of Native Affairs, Accra, (1
November 1919), Accra: National Archives of Ghana ADM. 11/768. I believe more
archival material exists on the issue just that researchers have not yet come across it. The
Public Records Office in London, U.K. could be a good source of such material, in
particular covering the period 1924-1976. I am currently working on a project, "Human
Rights, Traditional Practices, and Contemporary Forms of Slavery: a study of Trokosi,'"
with the object of filling that gap.
56 Robert Kwame Amen
Secretary of Native Affairs, on the instructions of the Governor of the Gold
Coast, ordered the Commissioner of the Eastern Province at Koforidua to
inquire into the issue and present a report16. The findings of the inquiry
confirmed most of what we know about trokosi practice today but while the
report found the practice of sending the girls to serve in the shrines
offensive, it did not find any problem with the other functions of the shrine.17
The Secretary for Native Affairs did not act on the report until four years
later when Mr. Nyagbledsi, on 19 November 1923, wrote another letter to
the Colonial Secretary of Native Affairs and threatened to take the law into
his own hands by hiring soldiers to break all fetish gardens in Battor.18
Consequently, another investigation of the practice was launched. The new
report19 attacked the character and questioned the motives of Mr. Nyagbledsi
for writing the letter to the Secretary of Native Affairs. Mr. Nyagbledsi was
seen as writing "(...) solely [on the basis of] a personal grievance and also
with a view to showing himself as a 'big man' by showing how he could
humbug the Fia [Chief] of Battor and the Fetish Priests."20 He was described
as the proverbial one-eyed man in the land of the blind as he was one of the
few Battors who could read and write at the time. The District
Commissioner, who wrote the report, stated that he would object to trokosi
practice only if the people involved did not engage in work, which formed
the basis of the colonial levy on the people. Consequently, he advised that
Mr. Nyagbledsi be ignored.
Such a reaction to the issue of trokosi from the Commissioner and
consequently the Colonial Administration should not be surprising. It falls
directly in line with the experiences of other societies during the colonial

J.T. Furley, Secretary for Native Affairs, letter to the Honorable Commissioner, Eastern
Province, Koforidua, (22 November 1919). SNA Case 54/1919. National Archives of
Ghana ADM 11/768.
See letter from Captain Price Jones to the Honorable Commissioner Eastern Province,
Koforidua, (19 March 1920) Case No. 78/41/09 National Archives of Ghana ADM.
11/768. Shrines, like the Christian church or Moslem mosque, were the centers of
religious worship and sacrifice in traditional Ewe society and for those in contemporary
Ghana who believe in African Traditional Religion (ATR). Shrine priests are regarded as
the link between the gods and the people. Trokosi is a form of religious sacrifice practiced
by some shrines for the atonement of sins (crimes) committed by family members. Apart
from sacrifices, adherents of ATR go to shrines to seek the favor and blessings of the gods
for success in all areas of life including business and other economic activity, family and
marital life, and for peace and prosperity of the nation in general. Shrine priests are often
consulted in times of sickness, infertility (mainly by women), famine, and other calamities
for an understanding and solutions to these problems. For more on the religious life of
Ewes, see Christian R. Gaba "The Religious Life of the People" in Francis Agbodeka, ed.,
A Handbook of Eweland: The Ewes of Southeastern Ghana (Accra: Woeli Publishing
Services, 1997) and Chris Abotchie, Social Control in Traditional Sothern Eweland of
Ghana: Relevance for Modern Crime Prevention (Accra: Ghana Universities Press, 1997).
Letter from Daniel K. Nyagbledsi to the Colonial Secretary of Native Affairs (19
November 1923) National Archives of Ghana ADM. 11/768.
Letter from the Commissioner of the Eastern Province to the Honorable Secretary for
Native Affairs (10 September 1924) Eastern Province No. /87/250/1910 National Archives
of Ghana ADM. 11/568
Ibid.
 Reconciling Human Rights and Traditional Practices 57

period. According to Suzanne Miers and Martin Klein, a review of the

relevant literature on the issue of slavery and other forms of servitude or
bondage in African societies during the colonial period reveals the
reluctance of colonial regimes to deal with these issues. In the case of
slavery, they depended upon it for both productivity and to appease the
slave-holding elites who administered their empire. Miers and Klein
concluded that generally, colonial governments acted on issues only if they
affected productivity (the colonial economy) and the administration of the
colonies.21
In Nigeria, for example, S. N. Ezeanya has shown how a law passed in
1956 prohibiting the Osu Cult Slavery system among the Ibos, was
completely ignored in many places and in some cases mocked in public even
by some of the very people responsible for enforcing the law.22 In a more
recent article, Carolyn Brown, in her discussion of the Ohu system, a system
of slavery, which is not a cult system but is also practiced among a different
group of Ibos, has indicated how the state only outlawed the slave trade and
excessive maltreatment but left it to slaves to secure their liberty.23 Writing
more specifically about Ghana, Kwabena Opare-Akurang and Claire
Robertson24 have argued that abolition laws were not generally administered
vigorously. This led to various forms of servitude and slavery in the post-
proclamation era (that is, after the abolition of slavery and all forms of
servitude in the Gold Coast, in 1874). Thus, like others who fought against
various forms of servitude and bondage in the colonial era, Mr. Nyagbledsi
attained very little success in his attempt to liberate trokosis.
There is a long break in the literature from 1924, when the records of the
colonial abolitionist efforts of Mr. Nyagbledsi were last recorded, till 1977
when Mark Wisdom, the great pioneer of Ghana's modern anti-trokosi
campaign, broke onto the scene.25 Wisdom is a minister of a local Baptist
church and Executive Director of the Fetish Slaves Liberation Movement
(FESLIM). He attributes his involvement in the anti-trokosi campaign to a
vision he had in 1977, which he interpreted as his call from God to liberate

Suzanne Miers & Martin Klein, eds., Slavery and Colonial Rule in Africa (London: Frank
Cass, 1999) "Introduction" at 4 [Slavery and Colonial Rule].
See S.M Ezeanya, "The Osu (Cult-Slave) System in Igbo Land" (1967) 1 Journal of
Religion in Africa 35. In a more recent article, J. Asamoah-Gyadu "Trokosi and Osu: Cult-
Slavery in West Africa - A Christian Response" (1996) 6 Trinity Journal of Church and
Theology 12, has shown that the Osu cult-slavery system shares several similarities with
the trokosi system in Ghana.
Carolyn A. Brown, "Testing the Boundaries of Marginality: Twentieth-Century Slavery
and Emancipation Struggles in Nkanu, Northern Igboland, 1920-29" (1996) 37 Journal of
African History 51.
See Kwabena Opare-Akurang, Is this the correct order of these names? "The
Administration of the Abolition Laws, African Responses and Post-Proclamation Slavery
in the Gold Coast" in Slavery and Colonial Rule, supra note 21, 149; and Claire
Robertson, "Post-Proclamation Slavery in Accra: A female Affair?" in Claire Robertson
and Martin Klein, eds., Women and Slavery in Africa. (Madison: The University of
Wisconsin Press, 1983) 220.
See comments at supra note 15.
58 Robert Kwame Ameh
trokosis.26 Essentially, his was a Christian religious mission to take the
gospel to the shrines, save trokosi priests and functionaries, liberate trokosi
children and women for Christ, and ultimately cause the prohibition of
trokosi practice. His approach was to demonize and ridicule the practitioners
and adherents of African Traditional Religion that have the shrine as their
place of worship.27 This demeaning approach created for Wisdom several
enemies both within and outside the anti-trokosi movement.
In the end, his campaign has had limited success despite all the years of
effort and resources that he has put in, including resigning his position as a
French school teacher and selling his personal belongings to finance his
campaign.28 Wisdom's greatest achievement, however, has been to
demystify the trokosi religious practice. He was the first in modern times to
show that even mortals and ordinary citizens could not only talk about but
also challenge trokosi gods, shrine priests, and functionaries and still live. In
this way, he broke the myth and climate of trepidation that had hitherto
surrounded the mere mention of the word "trokosC thus paving the way for
subsequent trokosi reformers to approach the shrines without fear of death.
Another major player in the anti-trokosi campaign is Sharon Titian,
native of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, who went to Ghana on the ticket of the
Christian NGO, Missions International. Titian has since formed her own
local version of Missions International, of which she is Executive Director,
based in Adidome, North Tongu, in Ghana. Even though her arguments
against the trokosi practice focus on the human rights violations endemic to
the system, the initial Christian label acquired when she entered the country
has stuck to her and defines reactions to her by proponents of the trokosi
system.29 Titian has been a target of the wrath of Afrikania Mission, the
leading spokespersons for the proponents of the trokosi system and at one
stage, some shrines in the Tongu area terminated her access to their premises
all on account of her perceived Christian attack on African Traditional
Religion.30 Thus, like Mark Wisdom, who initially invited her to work with
him on his campaigns, Titian was not successful regarding the liberation of
trokosis. Titian has now focused her efforts on her position as Director of
one of the two Vocational Training Schools devoted solely to the education
of liberated trokosis?1

26
Mark Wisdom, "The Vision" (Adidome: FESLIM, n.d.). Mr. Wisdom recounted the same
vision in my interview with him at Adidome (July 2000).
27
See for example, Mark Wisdom, "Abolition of Outmoded Customs" Daily Graphic
(Monday, 27 August 1984) 3, and Mark Wisdom, "Abolition of Outmoded Customs II"
Daily Graphic (Tuesday, 28 August 1984) 3. In this two-part article, Mark Wisdom
liberally used derogatory terms such as "practices of barbarism", "barbarous act", "savage
state", "primitive cultural practices", "primitive custom", and "fetish priests" in reference
to trokosi practice and its adherents.
28
Interview of Mark Wisdom by author (July 2000).
29
Robert Ameh, "Trokosi (Child Slavery) in Ghana: A Policy Approach." (1998) 1 Ghana
Studies 44.
30
Afrikania Mission, supra note 7. See also Ameh, supra note 1.
31
Interview of Sharon Titian by author (August 2000) at Adidome, North Tongu..
 Reconciling Human Rights and Traditional Practices 59

Daniel Nyagbledsi, Mark Wisdom, and Sharon Titian were the key
players of what I term the first wave of the znti-trokosi campaign.32 The
second wave of the campaign was, however, dominated by the media, while
the major players of the third wave were International Needs Ghana and all
the other individuals and groups that were subsequently attracted to the
trokosi issue as a result of the media attention it received.
Even though the anti-trokosi campaign during the first wave did not yield
much fruit with regards to the actual liberation of trokosis, as noted above, it
did succeed in demystifying and drawing media attention to the practice.
Mark Wisdom was the first person to use the mass media to draw the
attention of the nation to the controversial aspects of trokosi practice when
the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) government gave him the
opportunity to address the issue through the national news media - radio,
television and print media in the early 1980s.33 Like his personal campaign
in the field, not much came out of this media opportunity in terms of actual
trokosi liberation. However, Mark Wisdom's efforts in involving the local
Chiefs and Elders, the District Assembly, and Student Union in his anti-
trokosi campaign broadened its base and before long, caught the attention of
the national media in the early 1990s.
The first report on trokosi in the early 1990s appeared in the print media
on March 6, 1993. In a front-page story in The Mirror, A. E. Amoah drew
the attention of Ghanaians to the trokosi practice.34 Reactions to the story
were swift and came from individuals,35 the Ghana National Commission on
Children,36 and the Ghana Committee on Human and People's Rights
(GCHPR) and their mouthpiece, the Ghana Human Rights Quarterly.311
By 1994, the seeds of the trokosi issue, sowed by Mark Wisdom in the
1970s and 1980s, and A.E. Amoah's story in March 1993, had germinated
and began to spring up in the Ghanaian media: the Ghanaian trokosi debate

32
Ameh, supra notes 1 & 29.
33
Francis Kokutse, "Yirenkyi Debunks Outmoded Customs" Ghanaian Times (25 January
1983) 1; Letter from R.Y. Thomas (Principal Secretary) to Mark Wisdom (22 November
1982); Letter from Mark Wisdom to Flight Lieutenant J.J. Rawlings, Chairman of the
PNDC (13 November 1982); Mark Wisdom, "Abolition of Outmoded Customs" Daily
Graphic (27 August 1984) 3; Mark Wisdom "Abolition of Outmoded Customs" (28
August 1984) 3.
34
A. E. Amoah, "1000 Girls Kept as Slave Wives Under Trokosi System" The Mirror (6
March 1993) 1.
35
Anthony Tabiri Abebrese, "Give the 'trokosi' girls their freedom now" The Mirror
(Saturday, 21 March 1993).
36
Ghana News Agency, "VR observes OAU Day of the African Child" Ghanaian Times (26
June 26, 1993); A.E. Amoah, "Forum On 'Trokosi' System" Daily Graphic (26 June
1993); the "Comment" section of the Daily Graphic (26 June 1993) was also devoted to
the trokosi issue. (These newspaper cuttings are available in the "trokosi files" at African
Women Educationalists (FAWE) library at Achimota, Accra). See also Theodore Ahuno,
"At the 'Trokosi' Forum" Our Children (October 1993) 3, and the "Editorial" of that same
issue of the magazine.
37
"The Plight of Vulnerable Groups" (1993) 1:2 Ghana Human Rights Quarterly 4 and
"Slavery in Ghana" (1993) 1:4 Ghana Human Rights Quarterly 1.
60 Robert Kwame Ameh
was born. Other journalists such as Vincent Azumah38 joined Amoah in
becoming relentless writers on trokosi. Trokosi became a staple news item of
several Ghanaian newspapers, television channels, and magazines whenever
the issues of human rights and outmoded customs surfaced. Through press
conferences, feature articles, discussion programs, advertisers'
announcements, and "letters to the editor" by individuals, politicians and
officials of public and non-governmental organizations, the Ghanaian media
became inundated with trokosi news. The reports soon caught the attention
of Parliament39 and the then President J.J. Rawlings, who instructed District
Assemblies to work in collaboration with traditional rulers to pass by-laws
abolishing outmoded customs including trokosi.40 With this statement from
the President, the trokosi issue won a place on the national agenda as his
statement engendered further discussion and launched the third wave of the
anti-trokosi campaign. It is thus proper to state that the media were where
the Ghanaian trokosi debate was staged.
Individuals and organizations drawn to the trokosi issue by the intense
media focus of the second wave dominated the third wave of the anti-trokosi
campaign. Of these, however, International Needs Ghana is undoubtedly the
most important.

International Needs Ghana

International Needs Ghana (ING) is a front-line ministry member of the
international Christian organization, International Needs (IN). International
Needs41 was founded in 1974 by Dr. Ray Harrison as a partnership between
support and front-line ministry countries to help Christians serve God in
their own countries and provide community services for their people. The
support countries (now called supply-line country networks) such as Canada,
Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Britain raise funds to support

Vincent Azumah, supra note 7. See also Vincent Azumah, "Goats now to Replace Girls
As Trokosi Sacrifice" The Mirror (30 April 1994) 1; Vincent Azumah, "What Next After
Trokosi?" Daily Graphic (8 October 1998) 9; A. E Amoah and Vincent Azumah "Trokosi
Priests Challenge Patrons" The Mirror (17 June 1995) 3.
Kosi Kedem, "Statement on Vestal Virgins (Trokosi or Fiasidi)" in Republic of Ghana
Parliamentary Debates (Tuesday, 24 May 1994) at columns 283-88. This was also
reported by Debrah Fynn & Joe Okyere "Abolish 'Trokosi' System - Kedem" Daily
Graphic (25 May 1994) 1. The Ghanaian Times also carried the same news item in its
issue of Wednesday, 25 May 1994.
This was reported in the Ghanaian Times (Friday, 27 May 1994) issue. A letter dated 25
April 1994, from the Office of the President titled, "Petition to Fetish Priests to Permit
Trokosi (Slave Girl) to Attend School" addressed to the Chairperson of the Ghana
National Commission on Children applauded the efforts of the GNCC in encouraging the
Volta Regional Minister to mitigate the effects of the trokosi system. Citing the relevant
portions of the Constitution, the letter asked the Chairperson to take legal action against
any shrine priest, individual or groups of people contravening the constitution regarding
the trokosi practice.
International Needs changed its name in 2001 to Inter-National Needs to reflect the nature
of the partnership between its member nations. Most of the factual information about
International Needs is obtained from their web site - online: http://www.inter-national
needs.com (accessed 12 November 2000).
 Reconciling Human Rights and Traditional Practices 61

front-line ministry countries such as India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Romania,

Fiji, The Philippines, and Ghana. The President of IN is Mel Newth, based
in Langley, BC, Canada. All member country chapters are run through
autonomous national boards comprising local people. The mission of IN is
to connect Christian partners in the developed and developing world in
evangelism, discipleship and community development. IN emphasizes
"helping Christians serve in their own countries"42 to alleviate "poverty,
disease, illiteracy, hunger, idolatry, negative beliefs and practices, and to
facilitate the growth of rural and underprivileged communities."43
Walter Pimpong registered International Needs Ghana (ING) in 1987 as
a voluntary organization after meeting Dr. Harrison in 1981 and finding that
they share a common vision of Christian social work.44 In line with EM's
mission, ING's mission is "to promote human and community development
for the relief of socio-economic problems and cultural justice".
In 1990 ING was invited to assist the North Tongu District Assembly in
its Trokosi Modernization Project by U.S. Clarke, then District Secretary of
the North Tongu District Assembly, who was drawn into the trokosi
modernization efforts by Mark Wisdom. ING, in turn, invited the
Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and has
collaborated with several organizations such as the Ghana National
Commission on Children (GNCC), the Ghana Law Reform Commission
(GLRC), National Council on Women and Development (NCWD), National
Commission on Culture (NCC), and the National Council on Civic
Education (NCCE), FESLIM, the Federation of Women Lawyers (FTDA)
and the Ark Foundation in its anli-trokosi campaign.45
No other anti-trokosi NGO is comparable in its achievements to ING.
Other NGOs have so far engaged in only one or just a few of the programs
that ING has put in place for trokosis. This sets ING apart as the leader
among anti-trokosi NGOs in Ghana. After six years of negotiations with
shrines in Dangme, the first-ever mass trokosi liberation was achieved by
ING when the Dada Piem shrine at Big Ada set free 40 trokosis in July
1996.46 In less than six months, ING followed this up with its second batch

4
See the Vision statement of IN at http://www.inter-national needs.com (accessed 12
November 2000).
43
Factual information about International Needs Ghana (ING) was obtained from a booklet,
International Needs, prepared by ING; and a brochure written by Wisdom Mensah,
International Needs: Towards the promotion of human rights and community development
for the relief of socio-economic problems and cultural injustice (n.d).
44
Ibid.
45
Interviews of Walter Pimpong, Executive Director, ING, and Wisdom Mensah, Project
Officer in charge of ING Trokosi Modernization Project by author (July 2000) [Pimong &
Mensah interviews].
46
For a report on the liberation ceremony, see James Asante "Dangme Elders Relax
'Trokosi' System" Ghanaian Times (Monday, 2 9 July 1996) 1. "Ghana: Slave Girls
Freed" The African Observer (1-14 August 1996) (The newspaper cutting is available in
the "trokosi files" at F A W E ' s library at Achimota, Accra); and, Angela Dwamena-
Aboagye, "Trokosi Liberation Gives Ray of Hope" Ghanaian Times (9 October 1996) 6. A
statement was also made in Parliament to announce the first mass liberation of trokosis in
62 Robert Kwame Ameh
of liberations in North Tongu, in November 1996.47 These liberations opened
the floodgates of trokosi liberation, which became a common occurrence in
Ghana from 1997 till the present. As of December 2001, ING in
collaboration with other NGOs had liberated 2800 of the 4,714 known48
trokosis, i.e. 59 % of all known trokosis. The 2003 United States State
Department Human Rights Report on Ghana estimated that there were no
more than 100 trokosis serving in shrines by the end of that year.49 Although
I believe the number of trokosis in servitude is much higher, that figure is
solid testimony to the phenomenal success of the d.n\\-trokosi campaign in
Ghana considering the difficulties and complexities involved in reforming
controversial traditional norms and customary practices. ING currently
operates one of only two Vocational Training Schools in Ghana devoted
solely to training trokosis to acquire literacy, employment and life skills.50
Through its Micro-Credit Program, ING also provides liberated trokosis, and
especially graduates of its Vocational School, with seed money (capital) to
set up their own trades and businesses as a way of granting them an
independent livelihood and integrating them into society. But how did ING
manage to accomplish all this?

Human Rights Strategy Anchored in Dialogue and Education

ING's initial strategy was to convert trokosi?, to Christianity. When asked
about his anti-trokosi campaign in an interview with the British Columbian
Christian Info News, Walter Pimpong stated that "[o]ur aim is to reach the
community for Christ, but through the women."51 This is not surprising
considering the mission of IN, the larger network of which ING is a
segment. It did not, however, take long for ING to realize that this religious
strategy was not going to work as they faced similar opposition from the
shrine owners and priests as did Mark Wisdom and Sharon Titian before
them. ING having learnt from the mistakes of Wisdom and Titian quickly

Ghana; see Republic of Ghana Parliamentary Debates (Official Report) (2 August 1996)
at column 1376.
47
Theophilus Yartey, " 4 0 Girls and W o m e n Offered Freedom" Weekly Spectator (30
November 1996).
48
While the exact number of trokosis in Ghana is not known as the practice is shrouded in
mystery and secrecy, the census taken in the important study of Elom Dovlo and S. K.
Kufogbe, Baseline Survey on Female Ritual Bondage in Ghana: the Geographical Spread
and Count of Victims (Accra, International Needs Ghana, 1997), which pegs the number of
known trokosis at 4714, is regarded as the most reliable by researchers and human rights
activists. ING commissioned Dovlo and Kufogbe to d o the study, which was funded by
the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). This manuscript is available at
the office of the ING in Accra, Ghana.
49
S e e U S State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Ghana:
Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2003, online: http://www.state.gOv/g/
drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27730.htm (accessed 21 March 2004).
50
T h e t w o Trokosi Vocational Training Institutes are located at Adidome, in the North
Tongu Traditional Area. Sharon Titian runs the other one.
51
"Opponent of 'fetish slavery' in Ghana will visit B.C." Christian Info News (May 1995)
11.
 Reconciling Human Rights and Traditional Practices 63

abandoned their religious agenda of church planting, at least publicly.52 In

place of the religious approach, they adopted a new strategy of human rights
advocacy.
The First National Conference on Trokosi in 1995, which brought
together all the key stakeholders on both sides of the divide of the trokosi
problem, marks the formal beginnings of the new strategy that endorsed a
human rights approach to the trokosi problem. It was however not just the
usual formal, top-down, legalistic and abstract human rights approach. Key
participants at the Conference such as Emile Short, Anita Ababio, Walter
Pimpong and Mama Adokuwa Asigble, representing various organizations
such as Ghana's Human Rights Commission (CHRAJ), Law Reform
Commission (GLRC), Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA),
International Needs Ghana (ING) and Traditional Rulers from the practicing
communities respectively, argued effectively that a legal approach, while
necessary, could not by itself resolve the problem as trokosi was deeply
rooted in the belief system of the people. Consequently, the Conference
adopted a peculiar type of human rights approach, which drew attention to
the human rights violations of the practice but emphasized education and
dialogue with stakeholders, particularly those in the practicing communities.
The resolution at the end of the Conference also emphasized strong
sensitivity to the culture of the practicing communities, reflecting the
demands of proponents of the trokosi system.53
Armed with this new strategy, ING embarked on village-to-village
lectures, seminars and focus group interactions with shrine owners,
practitioners, and opinion leaders in practicing communities, as district and
national workshops and conferences were organized involving all
stakeholders.54 The community seminars and national workshops targeted
traditional leaders such as chiefs, queen mothers, shrine priests, owners and
elders, opinion leaders, the trokosh themselves and other identifiable
groups. ING worked in close association with other local anti-trokosi groups
such as FESLIM, prominent local groups such as the Association of Tongu

52
Pimpong & Mensah interviews, supra note 45.
53
54
First National Workshop, supra note 6.
Pimpong & Mensah interviews, supra note 45. For a report on some of the seminars at
Volo, Dorfor, and Adidome see "National Workshop on 'Trokosi' planned" Ghanaian
Times (20 May 1995) 1; "Workshop on Trokosi in July" Daily Graphic (20 May 1995)
(available in the "trokosi files" at FAWE's library at Achimota, Accra); Vincent Azumah,
"Trokosi Priest Attacks Christians" The Mirror (3 June 1995) (available in the "trokosi
files" at FAWE's library at Achimota, Accra); A.E. Amoah & Vincent Azumah, "Trokosi
Priests Challenge Patrons" The Mirror (17 June 1995) 3. See also, ING Workshop for
Paramount Chiefs and Queen Mothers in North, South Tongu, and Akatsi Districts (Accra,
Ghana: International Needs Ghana,1996). This was a report of three separate workshops
organized by ING for (i) Paramount Chiefs and Queen mothers of North and South Tongu
Districts at Sogakope, (ii) Paramount Chiefs of Akatsi District at Akatsi, and (iii) for
Queen mothers of Tongu Traditional Area at Adidome. Full details are in the reports of the
ING national and international workshops and conferences on trokosi see First National
Workshop, Second National Workshop, and Sub-Regional Conference, supra note 6.
64 Robert Kwame Ameh
Paramount Chiefs and the Tongu Queen mothers Association and national
organizations such as FID A, CHRAJ, and the NCCE.
ING and its collaborators argued at these meetings that whereas the
communities were free to practice their traditional religion, freedom of
religion as guaranteed by the Ghanaian Constitution is only to the extent that
it does not infringe on other rights enshrined in the Constitution. In this vein,
ING harped on the rights of trokosis which were being violated: health,
education, forced labor, human dignity, freedom from sexual exploitation
and the right to choose a marriage partner. As Pimpong pointed out in an
interview, "[o]ur strategy is very simple and it is to educate the practitioners
to give up the practice themselves. We believe that a change that emanates
from within would be more permanent."55

Cultural Sensitivity
Ever since the trokosi problem became a national issue, proponents of the
Trokosi system such as Dr. Dartey-Kumordzie, Osofo Kofi Ameve, and the
Afrikania Mission representing some Shrine Priests, Owners and Elders
have always demanded respect for Ewe traditional cultural and religious
practices.56 Even the Chiefs and Queen mothers of Tongu, with all their
support for the anti-trokosi campaign, have stated in my interviews with
them that they would not support any effort aimed at dismantling their
traditional cultural and religious practices per se.51 The Chiefs, Queen
mothers, Tongu District Assembly also perceived the trokosi problem within
the context of community development. For example, a major concern
expressed to me about the practice by Togbe Anipati IV, Paramount Chief of
Mepe Traditional Area and President of the Tongu Paramount Chiefs
Association, was the lack of education for trokosis and their children. Togbe
pointed out that this robs the Tongu area of their fair share of professionals
such as doctors, lawyers, and engineers in the country.58
The unique human rights strategy of dialogue and education adopted by
the anli-trokosi movement enabled the campaigners to listen to the
perspective and needs of the people, traditional leaders and proponents of
the system, and together they worked out how to address needs on both sides
of the trokosi debate. First, ING and its collaborators were respectful of the
non-controversial aspects of Tongu. For example, custom demands that the
traditional leaders of the Ewes, like those of other ethnic groups in Ghana,

55
Walter Pimpong, Posting to Okyeame, a Ghanaian Internet discussion forum (7 December
1997) online: http://www.okyeame.net/okyeame.
56
Osofo Kofi Ameve, Sammy Dartey-Kumordzie and Afrikania Mission, supra note 7.
57
Interviews of Togbe Anipati IV, Paramount Chief of Mepe Traditional Area and President
of the Tongu Paramount Chiefs Association and M a m a Adokuwa Asigble, Queen mother
of Tongu by author (August 2000).
58
Interview of Togbe Anipati IV, ibid.. For example, citing a nuclear engineer who is a
native of Tongu, Togbe lamented the number of professionals the community has likely
lost as a consequence of trokosi practice that prevents some children from going to school.
 Reconciling Human Rights and Traditional Practices 65

should be approached with respect, presented with gifts in kind (such as

drinks and/or money), and talked to through linguists. ING staff did just that.
Second, ING and its partners in the anti-trokosi campaign consistently
emphasized that they were only seeking the modification of the aspects of
the trokosi system that violate the rights of the women and girls involved
and that they were not seeking the abolition of the shrines or African
Traditional Religion.59
Third, ING offered generous compensation in cash and kind60 to shrine
owners and practitioners who offered to release their trokosi inmates. This
was in response to the argument of shrine owners and practitioners that they
would suffer economic loss as a result of letting go of their inmates, who
constituted a vital source of labor for them. Some may call the compensation
packages pandering. I call it a pragmatic policy, which does not compromise
the main objective of the campaign or the integrity of its process but rather
oils the wheels of the process of trokosi liberation. It should be quickly
added that ING paid these compensations only prior to the passage of the
law that criminalized trokosi in June 1998. After the passage of the law, ING
argued that it was against the law to keep trokosis. The implications of this
decision will be discussed in the next section. For now, suffice it to say that
dialogue, education and cultural sensitivity enabled the parties involved to
find common ground on which to reform the trokosi system.

Evaluation of Approach
The anti-trokosi movement itself evaluated their approach at the Second
National Conference on Trokosi (1998) and concluded that it was effective.
The anti-trokosi movement resolved at the conference not to depart from this
approach.61 The only addition to the approach was a regional tactic: to
combat the practice as a regional problem found in particular in Ghana,
Togo and Benin, - all in West Africa. This decision led to the First West
Africa Sub-Regional Conference on Trokosi in February 2001.62
In light of the fact that the first mass liberations took place in 1996, and
that by the time of the Second Annual Conference, in July 1998, about 42 %
of known trokosis had already been liberated,63 it is difficult not to describe
the third wave of the anti-trokosi campaign as a success. However, before
one can arrive at a definite conclusion about the impact of the anti-trokosi
campaign, one must first reckon with the impact of the Criminal Code
(Amendment) Act 1998 (Act 554), better known as the "trokosi law," which
was passed by the Ghanaian Parliament on June 12, 1998. Act 554

Pimpong & Mensah interviews, supra note 45.

60
Some Shrine Priests and Elders whose trokosis were liberated before the passage of the
law received generous compensation packages such as several herds of cattle, corn mills
and huge sums of money.
61
Second National Workshop, supra note 6.
62
Sub-Regional Conference, supra note 6.
63
A m e h , supra note 1.
66 Robert Kwame Ameh

effectively amended Act 29 (1960) by the insertion of section 314A, which

states:
Whoever (a) sends to or receives at any place any person; or (b)
participates in or is concerned in any ritual or customary activity in
respect of any person with the purpose of subjecting that person to
any form of ritual or customary ritual commits an offence and shall
be liable on conviction to imprisonment to a term of not less than
three years.
This amendment effectively criminalized the practice of trokosi. Even
before the passage of this law, opinions were divided among anti-trokosi
campaigners on whether law should be used to abolish the practice. There
were some who favored using a purely legal approach: prosecute the
practitioners, lock them up, and throw the keys away.64 So it is appropriate to
examine what impact the "trokosi law" had on the unprecedented mass
liberation of trokosis that took place in Ghana in the 1990s.
As mentioned earlier, the first trokosi liberation took place in October
1996. By the time the trokosi law was passed, in June 1998, 42 % of about
5000 known trokosi women and children had already been liberated. By
December 2001, 59 % of known trokosis were liberated. The latest US
Department of State Human Rights Report on Ghana put the number of
trokosis still serving in shrines in 2003 at no more than 100, a figure I have
already disputed. Was the trokosi law responsible for this extraordinary
success in fighting against a centuries-old traditional practice?
My data shows that there has been a slowing in the tempo of liberations
since the passage of the law. Only 17 % of trokosis were liberated in the first
three years (i.e. up to December 2001) after the passage of the law, whereas
42 % were liberated in the two-year period preceding the coming into force
of the law. With the criminalization of trokosi by the law, anti-trokosi NGOs
decided they would not support criminal acts by Shrine Owners, Elders, and
Priests. Hence, they no longer provide the once generous compensation
packages that were offered to them upon liberating their trokosis before the
passage of the law. This has led to some reluctance on the part of some
Shrines to participate in the mass liberations. Anti-trokosi NGO
representatives have confirmed in their interviews with me that although the
trokosi law enhances their campaign by giving it legal backing and
providing a weapon in their negotiations with the shrines, the success of the
campaign per se cannot be attributed to the passage of the law.
Also, there is no record to date of any one charged or prosecuted under
the trokosi law, even though it is common knowledge that some Shrines still
keep trokosis. In fact, a major concern in the anti-trokosi movement
currently is the lack of enforcement of the law on trokosi. At the West Africa
Sub-Regional Conference on Trokosi in February 2001, this was a recurrent

See First National Workshop, supra note 6.

 Reconciling Human Rights and Traditional Practices 67

theme in most of the papers presented and at discussion sessions. In

February 2000, two years after the passage of the law, Parliament questioned
the Minister of Social Welfare on the implementation of the law. His
response was that education was more important in addressing the issue than
merely enforcing the law. He also admitted that the government had decided
that NGOs do most of the work concerning the trokosi problem, as they
seem more competent in that area.65
This tells a lot about the limited contribution of the trokosi law in the
success of the anti-trokosi campaign: (i) it was the NGOs that did all the
work; (ii) and since NGOs do not enforce the law, there was no law
enforcement with respect to the trokosi issue as the government left the work
to NGOs. Consequently, the success of the anti-trokosi campaign cannot be
attributed to the passage of the law. In fact, a major conclusion at the West
Africa Sub-Regional Workshop on trokosi was that the Ghanaian
government has shirked its responsibilities in the trokosi issue and that the
NGOs cannot fully address these responsibilities alone. Speakers at the
workshop called on the government to get more involved in addressing
trokosi issues. The admission by the then Minister of Social Welfare in
Parliament that the government was doing very little trokosi work compared
to NGOs and the lack of implementation of the trokosi law, as discussed
above, attest to the fact that the criminal justice system may indeed not be an
instrument for positive change, as pointed out by Martha Shaffer.66
This underscores an often-acknowledged problem in social policy: the
limitations of criminal law in addressing social problems. As is often said, a
law is only as good as the ability and will of the authorities to enforce it.
Research abounds on how the criminalization of some social practices drives
the practices underground. Shaffer has advanced important arguments
regarding the limitations of the criminal law with regards to hate-crimes,
some of which equally apply to the trokosi practice: (i) charges are more
likely be laid against the socially marginalized; (ii) passing a criminal law
may end up being the only response from the government. This, according to
Shaffer, is an easy way out for the government to claim it has addressed the
problem. Meanwhile the problem may remain unresolved, hence Shaffer's
conclusion that the criminal justice system is rarely an instrument of
progressive social change.67
In the case of trokosi, six years after the enactment of the law, nobody
has yet been charged, and it seems unlikely that the trokosi law will ever be

Republic of Ghana, "Oral Answers to Questions, Minister of Employment and Social

Welfare" Parliamentary Debates (Official Report) (4 February 2000) at column 1178; See
also the electronic report of the same by Ghana Review International, "Criminalizing
'Trokosi' is not enough - Mumuni" (7 February 2000) online: http://www.mclglobal.com
(accessed 8 February 2000).
Martha Shaffer, "Criminal Responses to Hate-Motivated Violence: Is Bill C-41 Tough
Enough" in Nick Larsen and Brian Burtch, Law in Society: Canadian Readings (Toronto:
Harcourt Brace Canada, 1999) 302.
Ibid, at 324.
68 Robert Kwame Ameh
applied, but if officials ever begin to enforce the law, it is most likely only
priests of the small and less powerful shrines will be prosecuted. Worse still,
it should be remembered that the then Minister of Social Welfare declared
that the Ghanaian government has no program in place for trokosis and that
it has delegated this responsibility to the NGOs. The current government has
not even made any statement on the practice after almost four years in
office.
So, if the trokosi law did not contribute much to the success of the anti-
trokosi campaign, and if, as the Minister of Social Welfare admits, the
government decided to leave the trokosi problem to NGOs to deal with, then
it only stands to reason that the success of the campaign can be attributed to
the work of the NGOs involved and the particular approach they adopted in
dealing with the people in the practicing communities.

Conclusion
This paper set off to address the problem of how to make the application of
international human rights norms in non-western cultures effective. It was an
attempt to discuss how two hegemonic systems, human rights and
controversial traditional practices anchored in religion, could be reconciled,
with focus on the anli-trokosi campaign in Ghana, which is one of the few
highly successful attempts in recent times to reform a traditional cultural
practice. I have argued that the strategy of human rights advocacy, which
was grounded in dialogue, education, and sensitivity to the culture and needs
of the trokosi practitioners and people in the practicing communities
accounts for the unusual success of the campaign.
This approach had all the elements of what An-Nai'm et a/68 and Nagan69
refer to as "critical dialogue": mutual respect and understanding, equality
among the parties involved, local solutions, and empowerment of the
indigenous people. With these essential ingredients in the arsenal of the
leading anti-trokosi group (ING), the anti-trokosi movement easily found
allies in the Chiefs and Queen mothers, the District Assembly, other opinion
leaders and even some shrine owners and priests in Tongu, acknowledged as
the center of trokosi practice in Ghana.70 This paved the way for the
unparalleled mass liberation of thousands of known trokosis.
With the level of rare success seen in the Ghanaian anti-trokosi
campaign, it stands to reason that human rights activists engaged in efforts to
reform or even abolish traditional practices elsewhere can learn a lesson or
two from the Ghanaian campaign. The salient ones, in my view, include:71

An-Nai'm, supra note 9.

Nagan, supra note 14.
70
See comments
comments at
at supra
supra n<
note 48.
71
Some of these were discussed
discu in my paper, Robert Ameh, "Lessons from the Anti-Trokosi
Campaign" in Sub-Regional Conference, supra note 6,44.
 Reconciling Human Rights and Traditional Practices 69
(1) The Anti-Trokosi Coalition: Never before in the history of attempts to
abolish or reform a traditional ritual practice in Ghana have so many
individuals and groups come together (even if they do not always agree with
each other), all with just one common purpose, namely to modernize trokosi
practice: FIDA, International Needs, FESLM, TOY ACE (Tongu Youth and
Children Evangel), North Tongu District Assembly, Churches, SENTINEL,
Tongu Students Union, Missions International, Chiefs and Queen mothers of
Tongu, among others. They represent many diverse groups - students,
youth, religious groups, traditional leaders, local and foreign NGOs, and
individuals all united to do something in common. This is a far cry from the
situation Nyagbledsi, the lone voice crying in the wilderness, faced in the
early 1900s. It suggests that the attempt to end any controversial traditional
practice can hardly be done single-handedly by any individual or
organization. When a group of individuals or organizations are united with
one purpose, they generate a force, which gathers its own momentum that
nothing, not even an apathetic or hostile government, can stop. Thus, not
even International Needs Ghana, which distinguished itself in the campaign
by its tremendous contributions, could have done this work all by itself.
The blossoming of NGOs in Ghana in the 1990s must itself be attributed
to the emergence of a "culture of rights" in Ghana that was nurtured by the
adoption of the 1992 Constitution. This Constitution can best be described as
an amalgamation of indigenous African and international notions of culture,
human rights, and law. It was a culture of rights that recognized the validity
of both international and traditional rights. Further, for the first time in the
history of Ghana, the Constitution required the creation of a Commission on
Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to oversee the
protection of the rights of the citizenry. CHRAJ, led by Commissioner Emile
Short, played a critical role in the anti-trokosi campaign by openly
supporting and working with the numerous NGOs engaged in the movement.
Emile Short made it a point to personally attend and also made several
presentations at the numerous trokosi seminars, workshops, conferences, and
liberation ceremonies.72
(2) The Role of Foreign NGOs: The typical scenario of foreign NGO
involvement in abolitionist campaigns in the developing world has been for
those financially and materially better endowed (compared to local NGOs)
to arrive in the country believing they have "all the answers to solve the
problem". This newly found position (away from home) makes some of
these NGOs feel too important and powerful, if not superior, to the local
groups and people. They become arrogant, rarely ask for and receive little

Interview of Emile Short, Commissioner (Head) of Ghana's Commission on Human

Rights and Administrative Justice by author (July 2000). For the record of these
presentations at workshops and conferences see, First National Workshop, Second
National Workshop and Sub-Regional Workshop, supra note 6. Mr. Short delivered the
Keynote Address at the Second National Workshop on Trokosi, the Sub-Regional
Workshop, and at several trokosi liberation ceremonies.
70 Robert Kwame Ameh
local input, which is often not valued in any case. In the end, most foreign
NGOs in this type of situation hardly achieve their goals. The anti-trokosi
movement in Ghana had its experience of this type of foreign NGO in the
Swiss international group, Sentinelles, which was briefly involved in trokosi
liberation efforts and actually succeeded in liberating two shrines in Volo.73
But that was all they were ever able to do for trokosis in Ghana. Sentinelles
arrived in Ghana literally with suitcases full of money and headed straight to
the shrines in Volo to liberate trokosis. The group was not interested in local
input as they felt with their money they had all the answers.74 Soon word
spread around that there was a foreign group out there distributing money to
trokosis. In the end, the group was robbed of their monies and equipment
and with that came the end of their trokosi related activities in Ghana. They
had to seek help in order to leave the country.75 The Sentinelles method is
top-down, legalistic, abstract, alienates and creates dependency among the
local people. This sharply departs from IN's strategy of letting the local
people in each country actually do the work, as will be discussed below. It
is, however, a fact that the financial and other logistical support offered by
foreign NGOs is crucial to the work of local abolitionist groups. It may be
wiser for foreign NGOs to limit their role to providing financial and material
support and leave the real work to the local people. By the same token, they
would be well advised to insist on accountability on the use of the resources
provided to their local partners.
(3) The Involvement of the Local People: The active involvement of the
local people in the anti-trokosi campaign was pivotal to its success. Even
though ING, the leading anti-trokosi group in Ghana, is part of an
international NGO, the official policy of the parent group, International
Needs, is to reach nations of the world through their own citizens.76 In this
respect, apart from the financial support provided by IN and other
international organizations, the real work of dialogue and education was
done by ING, staffed by Ghanaians. In line with the same principle, the
majority of ING staff assigned to their Trokosi Modernization Project were
Ewes, who spoke the local language and knew the customs of the people.
This provided ready insight into the issues at stake, promoted cultural
sensitivity and local activism. ING approached the traditional rulers, Shrine
Priests, Owners and Elders with drinks and gifts, and drank water from the

73
For reports on the Sentinelles liberation ceremony, which took place in October 1996, see
Ghana News Agency, "40 Trokosi Slaves Set Free" Daily Graphic (26 October 1996);
Richard Afari, "Trokosi Slaves Freed - but Apprehensive Over What Happens Next"
Public Agenda (4-6 November 1996) (available in the "trokosi files" at FAWE's library at
Achimota, Accra).
74
For a report on the involvement of Sentinelles in the anti-trokosi campaign, see A. E.
Amoah, "The Transformation of Trokosi" Daily Graphic (15 May 1998) 7.
75
Interview of Emile Short, supra note 72. Wisdom Mensah, the Project Officer of ING,
also confirmed this story when I interviewed him (July 2000).
76
T h e I N Mission statement is posted at I N ' s official website online: http://www.mter-
national needs.com (accessed 12 November 2000).
 Reconciling Human Rights and Traditional Practices 71

one calabash used by all present at gatherings as demanded by custom.

These acts created trust between the parties and won over the local leaders
and proponents of the trokosi system and opened the door for education and
exchange of ideas.
ING did not approach the practicing communities as the superior, all-
knowing people coming with some foreign ideas that will purportedly bring
"civilization" to the local people. This tactic opened the door for them to
educate the practitioners and local people on the laws of the modern state of
Ghana, which incorporates aspects of international human rights norms. This
strategy acknowledged freedom of religion, including African Traditional
Religion, to the extent that it does not infringe on other rights enshrined in
the Ghanaian Constitution. Thus, implicit in the approach was an
acknowledgement of upholding the laws of the nation which also
acknowledges due respect for practitioners of African Traditional Religion.
The strategy made the traditional leaders, shrine owners and priests
partners in the quest to change the unsavory aspects of the trokosi system.
Once they were convinced the anti-trokosi campaign was not to destroy their
traditional religion itself, they became receptive to the idea of change, which
centered on respecting the human rights and dignity of trokosis. Even though
ING had an international human rights approach to the problem, in dealing
with local actors engaged in the practice of trokosi, they adopted a culturally
appropriate manner.
This contrasts sharply with the initial religious method of the Christian
abolitionists - Mark Wisdom and Sharon Titian - with its demeaning,
condescending, confrontational, disrespectful, and humiliating style. Not
surprisingly, the religious approach failed, as any effort to effect change in a
particular group of people that does not involve the target population cannot
succeed. Outsiders, in their quest to reform traditional practices, are
mistaken to underestimate the intelligence of indigenous people and think
they (the outsiders) have all the answers.
The foregoing highlights the most important conclusion of this paper:
there are several approaches to bringing controversial traditional practices in
line with international human rights. The formal, legalistic, top-down
approach, which criminalizes and alienates the local people, does not take,
root. But a culturally sensitive approach based on negotiations, dialogue, and
education, which seeks to secure the support and participation of the local
people, seems to be an effective way of injecting human rights principles
into controversial traditional practices and reconciling the two hegemonic
systems. Although a traditional practice such as trokosi may be the most
repugnant and one may have the best of intentions in seeking to reform it,
without an appropriate approach to implementing change, one may not
achieve much in the way of reform.
72 Robert Kwame Ameh

Resume
Une abondante litteYature documente de nombreux exemples de tentatives d'abolir
ou de reformer des pratiques traditionnelles allant a l'encontre des droits humains
dans diffe"rentes society's, mais peu de cas de succes ont e"te rapporte's. Celui de la
campagne recente contre le systeme trokosi au Ghana, qui implique la servitude
rituelle de femmes, est une exception notable. Jusqu'en aout 2000, 59 % de toutes
les trokosis avaient e"te" libe'rees, et en 2004, on estimait leur nombre a moins de 200.
La campagne anti-trokosi, menfe d'abord sous la banniere d'une croisade chretienne
contre la pratique religieuse traditionnelle Ewe, avait suscite l'hostilitd et peu de
cooperation aupres les proprie'taires des temples et les pratiquants. Ce n'est qu'en
changeant la stratdgie, i partir de 1995, en campagne internationale pour les droits
humains que la voie s'ouvrit pour une premiere liberation massive de trokosis, en
1996. L'auteur soutient que le succes de la campagne est surtout du a l'approche
particuliere des droits humains fondee sur l'^ducation, le dialogue, la sensibilite"
culturelle et le respect mutuel.

Abstract
The literature is replete with numerous examples of attempts to either abolish or
reform traditional practices that violate the rights of people in different societies
around the world. Few success cases have, however, been recorded. The recent anti-
trokosi campaign in Ghana against female ritual servitude is one of the few success
cases. By August 2000, 59 % of all known trokosis had been liberated. Today, it is
estimated that less than a couple of hundred of trokosis are still held in bondage. The
campaign, which started as a Christian religious crusade against the Ewe traditional
religious practice of trokosi, backfired initially as it met with hostility and little
cooperation from the shrine owners and practitioners. However, by 1995, the
strategy changed from a religious to an international human rights campaign paving
the way for the first mass liberation of trokosis in 1996. The author argues that the
peculiar type of human rights approach adopted, which was based on education,
dialogue, cultural sensitivity, and mutual respect, accounts largely for the success of
this campaign.

Robert Kwame Ameh

Department of Sociology
University of New Brunswick
PO Box 4400
Fredericton, N.B. Canada E3B 5A3
ameh@unb.ca