He asserted that they had died for disobeying the tradition of being subjected to his late father's trade. Since then, he asserted, no other member of his family has died. However, the perpetrators of FGM in Ghana are mostly women who carry out the cutting operations in the name of culture. Girls who refuse to cooperate are forced down by stronger women while they are cut by the practitioners. Doctors say that, since the cutting is done under unhygienic conditions, many of the resultant wounds become infected.
Some victims develop tetanus, since they are cut with unsterilized instruments.
Addressing a group of journalists from Ghana, Europe and the United States in his palace last April, Bolga Naba Martin Abilba III, the paramount chief of Bolgatanga, an Upper East Region area known for the high incidence of FGM, condemned the practice. He said that, although men previously refused to marry uncircumcised women because they saw them as prone to promiscuity, they are now ready to marry those who had avoided the practice. Traditional Birth Attendants with manuals for recording births and gathering data on FGM prevalence. Dr. Odoi-Agyarko said that his organization is conducting information and education campaigns to discourage the practice. Among his tools are some slides which relay some of the horrors of the practice.