Human rights lawyer Francis-Xavier Sosu has said that he is afraid of the future of females and young girls in the country if stringent measures are not put in place and adhered to protect women, children and the vulnerable in society.
The fears of the Madina lawmaker were heightened following the customary marriage ceremony held between a 63-year-old priest and a 12-year-old girl in Nungua, Accra.
According to UNICEF’s 2022 population and housing report, there are two million child brides out of the 8.3 million total marriages in Ghana.
“This is a very worrying trend and for me I fear for the future of young girls in Ghana, and the future of Ghana because when you have a population that shows that females or the women are more and we don’t have enough protection for our women.
“Then the country is heading to a doom because the female gender is not protected or supported,” Sosu told Alfred Ocansey, host of Ghana Tonight, yesterday [Monday, April 1].
He continued by emphasising that “at the end of the day you want to count on same people to be the future leaders or to actually be the people to anchor the future of our generation or the future of this nation and I think that is a very worrying trend.”
The private legal practitioner and human rights activist therefore called on the state and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to intervene in the matter of the 12-year-old girl being married to a 63-year-old Nungua Gborbu Wulomo.
“I want to challenge the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection that they need to really up their games. I mean in the last seven years I haven’t seen the ministry done much in protection the vulnerable class, particularly women and children, and that is very worrying,” he stated.
The human rights lawyer also accused the parents of the child of being accomplices to the crime.
“This is a violation that goes to the core and to the root of the family values of Ghana. And so it is one of the platforms that we can rally around if, indeed, we believe that we must protect family values.”
He has also demanded that the priest be arrested and prosecuted, and if found to be guilty, he must go to jail, indicating that “marriage by law is a union between two consenting adults and not an adult and a minor.”
However, the Police Service, in a statement on Monday, April 1, indicated that the 12-year-old and her mother have been rescued and are currently under police protection.
READ MORE:
- We have to situate the child in the context of the law – Bright Appiah on marriage of 12-yr-old-girl to 63-yr-old Chief Priest
- The state must intervene – Nana Oye on marriage of 12-yr-ol girl to 63-yr-old Chief Priest