NCCE sensitises Ghanaians to early forced marriage
The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) is undertaking a nationwide sensitisation programme to educate Ghanaians on the need to reduce child, early and forced marriages (CEFMs) in the country.
The commission is having the exercise done with financial support from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD), through the Global Peace and Security Fund (GPSF).
Speaking at one of such programmes at Brewaniase in the Nkwanta South District in the Volta Region, the Nkwanta South District Director of the NCCE, Mr Daniel Agbesi Latsu, appealed to parents to desist from forcing their girl-child into marriages.
Mr Latsu said the act was criminal and punishable at the law court because it contravened subsection 1© of section 14 of the Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560), and added that “no person shall force a child to be married.”
Mr Latsu also stated that the minimum age for marriage of whatever kind should be 18 years and stressed that any person who contravened the law committed an offence and was liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding GH¢500 or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding one year or to both.
Areas for implementation
The Deputy Volta Regional Director of the NCCE, Mr Augustine Bosrotsi, said the CEFMs programme in the Volta Region covered Ho, Akatsi, Kadjebi, Nkwanta-South and Nkwanta-North districts.
Mr Bosrotsi appealed to Ghanaians to educate themselves on the harmful effects of early and forced marriages.
CHRAJ effects
The Nkwanta South District Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Clement Kpegah, said early and force marriages had become a common household term in the Nkwanta South and North districts.
He said that was because many governmental, non-governmental and civil society organisations had been making frantic efforts to address the issue over the years.
Mr Kpegah who delivered a paper on the topic: “An overview of the situation of CEFMs and existing legal provisions/ policies that are meant to the tackle the problem” said the practice had had several negative effects on the victims and the general development of the district.
He, however, said the practice was in marginal decline but creating awareness of its dangers and possible human rights abuses remained worthy of consideration.
Mr Kpegah mentioned the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for marriage and Registration of marriages, Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and Article 26(2) of the 1992 Constitution as some of the existing legal provisions that were meant to tackle the problem.
He said 39 CEFMs cases were reported to his outfit in the Nkwanta South District between January 1, 2010 to March 15, 2014, with the highest number of 15 cases recorded in 2010 and the least of five cases recorded in 2013.
Mr Kpegah, therefore, appealed to Ghanaians to help to empower the girl–child to fight against the practice.
Community impact
The Adontihene of Ntrubo Traditional Area, Nana Telebour Bekoe II, thanked NCCE for the programme which he said was dear to him.
He said education of their children, especially the female, was a priority and that was why the town had six junior high schools and one senior high school, the Ntruboman Senior High School (SHS), although it was a farming community.
He said educating the girl–child had not been without problems in relation to force marriages, early marriages and other human rights violations.
Nana Bekoe II said although the problem was not so pronounced in their communities, they could not underrate its effects on the development of their future leaders.
Similar programmes have been held at Dadiase, Krontang, Nkwanta, Odumasi, Pawa, Kue, Tutukpene, Salifu, Ahondwo, Ofosu, and Kanyinta Junction.
