Upper East: Progress made in fight against child marriage will deteriorate without bylaws, says chief
The regions with the highest percentage of girls ever in the union are North East (13.0%), Savannah (10.9%), and Northern (10.6%), all with rates more than twice the national average of 4.0%
Naba Atugudeeya Roland Akwara III, the paramount chief of Sirigu in the Upper East Region, has expressed grave concern that the progress made in the fight against child marriages in the Kassena-Nankana District may be reversed if district assemblies fail to publish by-laws prohibiting the practice.
Nationally, 79,733 girls in Ghana, aged 12 to 17, are either married or living with a man, according to the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC). Out of this number, 25,999 are girls in junior high school (12 to 14 years old).
The regions with the highest percentage of girls ever in the union are North East (13.0%), Savannah (10.9%), and Northern (10.6%), all with rates more than twice the national average of 4.0%.
In the Upper East Region, the prevalence of child marriage stands at 7%. According to the data, a total of 5,640 girls are married. 5,500 people are currently married, with 140 previously married.
Naba Akwara III, making an appeal to AfriKids, a child Rights Organisation headquartered in the region, stated that within his traditional area, modest gains have been made against child marriage.
To accelerate these gains, he suggested that the Kassena-Nankana West District Assembly and other assemblies should gazette local laws to address the situation. He made these remarks at AfriKids’ Brand Relaunch.
“We have learnt so much from you, and you have implemented many measures to stop early child marriage. As a community, we have established bylaws, but we are still struggling to have them gazetted. I urge you to take up this project and work together with us to find a way to influence the registration and gazetting of these laws. This will ensure full implementation of our efforts.”
AfriKids, in its attempt to deal with child marriages, has expanded its work in three districts to help deal with the worrying issues of child marriages in Northern Ghana.
The work of AfriKids against child marriages is particularly centred in the Mamprugu Moagduri District in the North East Region and the Builsa South and Binduri districts in the Upper East Region.
Reporting by Mark Smith in Upper East Region
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