In July 2007, a Ghanaian Telecom manager was chosen to be a new fetish priest. These traditional leaders worship and serve gods within traditional shrines. Some shrines are known to commit human rights atrocities; in observing this, the Telecom manager rejected the position – as a violation of his Christian belief and human rights – and fled into hiding.

Benjamin Tetteh and jhr-trainer, Darrell Harvey aired this story on Joy FM. Many other stations picked up the story which caused the traditional leaders in Tema to call emergency meetings. The leaders criticized the man’s supportive family for allowing him to speak candidly to the media about his situation. In turn, the man felt relieved that his story was made public because it encouraged discussion on freedom of choice. He also stated that “no one should have to choose between his career and his culture,” as he was being asked to do. Listen to original interview by Benjamin Tetteh below

Man flees fetish priesthood

Interview by Benjamin Tetteh for Joy FM in Accra, Ghana