The Overlord of the Waala Traditional Area, Naa Fuseini Pelpuo, together with his sub-chiefs and elders are being called upon to, as a matter of urgency, redefine the provisions of the said customary law that allows the flogging of persons who feature in sex tapes along with persons suspected to be homosexuals.
It would be recalled that the Waala Traditional Area constituted a by-law in late 2021, banning the release of sex tapes after it was observed that leaking sex tapes had become normal amongst the youth in the area.
To enforce the law, two lovers, a tricycle driver and a ticketer at the Wa main market in the Upper West Region have been given 20 canes each for leaking their sex tape on social media.
It is alleged that the lady in question uploaded the video on social media on Sunday, May 29, 2022. The two were therefore canned because their action was against the custom and tradition of the Waala Traditional Area.
But speaking about the issue on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show, the Principal State Attorney for the Upper West Region, Lawyer Saeed Abdul Shakur said it may be time for the Waala Traditional Council to modify the contents of the customary law.
“I agree 100 percent. It would be part of the engagement. If we engage the traditional authorities, we would let them know that if somebody defiles or violates your customs, it is likely that a particular crime is a crime already stated in our constitution or in our criminal laws. For example, this publication of obscenity is a criminal offence that is known to our laws. If we had resorted to that one, we would have saved ourselves the embarrassment.”
“If we engage them and let them know that anytime they have any individual defiling the laws of the land, they should let the appropriate agencies and actors know, we will be able to handle these things,” he said.
Lawyer Abdul Shakur was however of the opinion that brute State force must not be used to address the issue as that could degenerate into a nastier situation.
“We should not resort to brute State force on the people. Some of them set out genuinely believing in the order of their chief, believing that there were acting legally. They set out genuinely on the instructions of their chief. If were are going to go full hawk, every actor around that area is complicit. Is that what we want our society to be? It will generate chaos”
“Everybody listened to the reports of what happened yesterday. It was not palatable. The best way to do this thing is to deploy a little bit of diplomacy and relative sense,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Bar Association has stated the flogging of the two persons who featured in a leaked sex tape at the palace of the Overlord of the Waala Traditional Area in Wa; the Upper West Regional amounts to a violation of their fundamental human rights.
In a statement signed by the National President of the GBA, Yaw Acheampong Boafo Esq. and the National Secretary, Kwaku Gyan Baffour Esq. and copied to A1 News, the act of tying people and flogging them is humiliating and dehumanizing.
The GBA maintained that the “barbaric act contravenes Articles 12 (2) and 15 (1) (2) (a) and (b) of the Constitution, 1992, which provide; 12. (2) Every person in Ghana, whatever his race, place of origin, political opinion, colour, religion, creed or gender shall be entitled to the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the individual contained in this Chapter but subject to respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for the public interest. 15. (1) The dignity of all persons shall be inviolable.”
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
