Bongo Chiefs declare: “No more child marriage”
Seeing child marriage as a canker, the Chiefs of the Bongo Traditional Area in the Bongo District in the Upper East Region have declared, “no more child marriage.”
They also promised to lead an intensive campaign towards elimination of the canker in the district.
The chiefs, led by Naba Baba Salifu Atamale Lemyaarum, Paramount Chief of the area, made the declaration in Bongo at a durbar, organised by the Obaapa Development Foundation with funding support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
“If care is not taken, the child marriage menace can escalate again here because of the poverty levels of the people and so this project is timely,” Naba Lemyaarum cautioned.
Naba Lemyaarum noted that although child marriage in the district had seen a decline in recent years as compared to the previous years, the issue was still a concern in the area and there was the need to work together to eliminate it completely.
As part of the activities, the Paramount Chief noted that all divisional chiefs within the Paramountcy and their queen mothers would intensify education among their subjects on the need to end child marriage and remove any barrier to the development of girls in the area.
“We don’t want to use force; we want to let the people understand that it is for our own interest that we need to stop child marriage.
“We need to embark on sensitisation drive and proper education and we will institute a working committee comprising the chiefs, queen mothers, assembly members and all other stakeholders who matter to draw a very tentative programme to provide guidelines to avoid conflict of interest”, he added.
Nanahema Adwoa Awindor, Executive Director of the Obaapa Development Foundation, said research conducted by the UNFPA and its partners revealed that child marriage was still prevalent in Ghana and there was need to amplify efforts at community levels.
According to her, despite efforts made in the past, the current project sought to leverage the power and influence of traditional leaders and religious leaders to fight the phenomenon, targeting one traditional area at a time.
She said the project had trained the chiefs and the traditional leaders on the laws and policies regarding child marriage and believed that they were empowered to make the needed change for sustainable development.
Poganaba Felicia Agampoka, Queen mother of Feo community and Secretary of the Bongo Queenmothers Association, lauded the project and said it would provide opportunities for the queenmothers who were already working with adolescents to intensify their campaigns.
Madam Rita Abamah, the Bongo District Girl Child Officer of the Ghana Education Service, said child marriage destroyed the future of girls and urged all stakeholders to join the fight to end the problem.
The durbar was part of the UNFPA’s intervention to work with local stakeholders including traditional authorities to end child and forced marriage as well as eliminate all forms of abuses and dehumanising sociocultural practices against women and girls.
The move is part of efforts to break barriers that hinder progress of women and girls to access to education and contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) particularly goal five which puts emphasis on achieving gender parity by 2030.
It is being implemented by Obaapa Development Foundation in partnership with the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs among other stakeholders.
Held on the theme “commitment of ending child marriage: one paramountcy at a time”, the durbar for the Bongo Paramountcy to publicly declare its readiness to fight against child
Source: GNA