OccupyGhana, a pressure group, is charging the Attorney-General, Godfred Dame, to immediately arrest and prosecute 63-year-old Gborbu Wulomo of Nungua and all co-conspirators for engaging in customary marriage with a 12-year-old girl, in the wake of the nationwide condemnation of the child marriage.
A statement releases by the group yesterday stressed that “while acknowledging the press statement from the Ghana Police that they have identified the girl and are investigating the matter, OccupyGhana calls on the Attorney-General to arrest and prosecute without fear or favour not only the direct perpetrators but also all whose conspiracy and abetment have facilitated this offence.”
Occupy Ghana, also condemned the customary marriage ceremony intimating that child marriage, besides being illegal in Ghana, is a terrible and distasteful practice and that “A 12 years old girl is nowhere close to being a woman. She is just a child whose childhood is robbery by being forced into marriage.”
Furthermore, OccupyGhana made mentioned that child marriage issues have been ongoing unnoticed for years citing that data from about 10 years ago shows 19 percent of girls in Ghana are married before age 18, and five percent were married before their 15th birthday.
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“Closely linked to this abhorrent practice are teen pregnancy numbers. Seventy-six out of every 1000 births in Ghana are by adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19. Those are terrible numbers,” Occupy Ghana again urged the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection and the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs to put in place measures to eradicate these acts within the society. Children are our future, and protecting them should be a paramount aim of our whole society,” the statement added.
In a related development, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has criticized the Nungua Traditional Council over the recent marriage between Gborbu Wulomo of Nungua, Nuumo Borketey Laweh Tsuru XXXIII, and a 13-year-old girl.
The NCCE expressed concern about the situation and emphasized that cultural practices that are illegal and unconstitutional have no place in Ghana’s democracy.
The Commission reminded the Ga Traditional Council of the Children’s Act, Act 560 of 1998, which states that the minimum age of marriage shall be 18 years and prohibits forcing a child into betrothal, dowry transactions, or marriage.
The NCCE also referred to Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, which recognizes the existence of ethnic groups in the country but also abolishes traditional practices that are injurious to an individual’s health and well-being.
“The NCCE wishes to remind the Ga Traditional Council that the Children’s Act, Act 560 of 1998, Section 13, (1&2) provides that “The minimum age of marriage of whatever kind shall be eighteen years”. It is also worth pointing out that the same section of the Children’s Act says that “No person shall force a child (a) to be betrothed; (b) to be the subject of a dowry transaction; or (c) to be married”. While the Nungua Traditional Council contends that this union is voluntary, it is unclear to the NCCE how a pre-pubescent, pre-teen minor can consent to such an arrangement.”
The Commission urged the Nungua Traditional Council to review its practices under the laws and the Constitution of Ghana and to refrain from actions that may negatively impact the youth of Nungua.
NCCE also called for the intervention of the National and Regional Houses of Chiefs, the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, and the Department of Social Welfare to ensure the protection of the child’s best interests and the removal of child marriages from customary practices.
