FAMILY SECRETS: THE UNSPOKEN ISSUE OF INCEST IN GHANA

 Incest(inbreeding), has sunk its teeth deep into the flesh of our beloved country to the extent that, it is threatening the life of our societies. May religion keep its confusion at bay because according to certain creation stories, the logic is that, God at that time allowed incest between Cain and his siblings. It is a highly questionable theory!

Incest is venomous

Incest does not only include sexual experience between parents and children or siblings of the same parents, it also includes, close-cousin sexual connections as well. 

Incest has been in existence worldwide since the beginning of the ages, it will be difficult to determine when or where it began in time, especially if certain holy books indirectly made a reference to it from the very beginning. 

Incest is so, so, so wrong, and has been proven through various scientific and psychological studies. The dangers are overwhelming, such that it can make a person mute after researching about it.

Worldwide, incest is practiced in some tribes, clans, and nationalities such that it is legal, it has lost its negativity and has kept causing unknown harm to mankind till now.

In Ghana, it is considered a crime, yet it is practiced openly since most tribes and clans either do not know the dangers or see it as a tradition.

CULTURAL TRADITION

As explained earlier, some tribes and clans in Ghana see nothing wrong with close-cousin marriages. Should research be conducted closely, it may expose erratic genes from incestuous marriages and relations as a main cause of deformities, birth, and health-related issues in newborns. Unfortunately, this has never been done. I have friends who come from such families with no health issues though, but that doesn't discard the dangers that come with that. Some families in Ghana allow first and second-cousin marriages, to preserve wealth, and promote so-called unity among other reasons.

POOR FAMILY PLANNING

There's clear evidence of poor family planning in Ghana among most of the populace. Without planning for children before giving birth, most families end up with their teenage children sharing the same room. This can lead to complex emotional and psychological instabilities in growing children. Seeing or hearing their parent having an affair exposes children to a lot of premature mental fantasies. Siblings at an early age can begin practicing what they see and among themselves. 

PARENTS BATHING WITH THEIR CHILDREN OF OPPOSITE SEX

Earlier, most parents in Ghana bath together with their children, this, in the eyes of the parents helps keep an eye on the way the child bathes. On the other hand, it may start planting the notion of incest in a young child, especially of the opposite sex. Widely, this has reduced yet there are still some occurrences in a few remote areas of the country. Parents must at all costs avoid bathing with their children of the opposite sex.

SEX EDUCATION

From research and facts, Ghanaians in general are very poor sexual educators. Even in parenthood, they end up shying away from issues of sexual content which will help to educate children on the boundaries of sexual relations. A revelation shows that the number of men who fail to educate their children on sexual-related issues is more compared to women. A lot of children grow up to explore the issue of sex all by themselves and especially by their peers wrongly during their teenage, and this has been a contributing factor to some of the incestuous relationships in the country.

PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES

Incestuous Paraphilia; a mental disorder with a strong urgency for the desire of sexual relation with a direct member of one's bloodline. With the weak mental health care system in most African countries and Ghana, it becomes challenging to detect cases of mental disorders at an early age. Most culprits when properly diagnosed will turn up declared sick with this disorder, yet most of our societies are not prepared or equipped with the right infrastructure for such issues.  

This is a clear example of a man attempting to marry his daughter in Ghana.

GREED OR PRESERVATION?

Concerning families, tribes, and clans that wouldn't want to marry outside, the decision lies between greed, self-preservation, and wealth preservation. They may be right in a way, but may also end up wrong in several others. From the eyes of science, a lot could go wrong with close cousin relations biologically if they are engaging in sexual activities.

Though people talk of peaceful relations, keeping certain biological traits and such, the caveat to having children out of closely related genes can be huge.

THE MAIN CAUSE?

Come to think of it, could it be that most of our African tribesmen do not know about gene inheritance and how it could complicate our lives due to strong dominance? 

For some African tribes too, incest is a taboo and completely frowned upon. Serious rituals are performed in some communities when scandals of incest are exposed. This is in sharp contrast with the tribes that do not frown upon incest. If you grow up in Africa, you can easily see the severity of incest in areas where it is frowned upon, community elders do not take it lightly at all. 

In Ghana, there has been a sharp increase in reported cases of incest since 2020, only God knows how many are unreported. Here are a few:

• A father who claims he had incestuous consent from his two daughters (2020)
• Another jailed for impregnating his daughter (2009)
• A Service personnel in the web of incest (2022)
• An incestuous father (2015)
• Another father who sodomized his children (2021)
• A security officer who got 31 years for incest (2021)
• 8 daughters who became incestuous by their father (2024)
• An incestuous confession from a daughter (2019)
• Fisherman sentenced to 20 years for incest (2018)

Incest is a crime in Ghana

The reality dawning on us is scary. Who knows the nature of the true statistics out there? All parents should be very vigilant on their children, husbands, wives, cousins relatives out there who may want to prey on their innocent children.

THE CURE?

The remedy to incest is not limited to a few suggestions here after careful observations in Ghana;

• Single parents especially men should be educated and re-educated on the pitfalls of incest. 
• Single parents must avoid bathing with children of the opposite sex
• Parents (fathers especially) must limit sharing the same room with their teenage girls, the need for children to have their own spaces must be factored in when planning a family.
• Mental health must be taken seriously in Ghana
• Parents must be open with children on issues of sexual relations
• There should be a topic of incest in our schools' textbooks for sensitization
• Section 105(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) of Ghana should be reviewed to include first-cousins also

May God bless our homeland Ghana,

And make our nation great and strong,

Bold to defend forever.....
May the evil thought of incest forever disappear from our minds.