About two in every 10 children between the ages of 10 and 19 are in cohabitation or marriage, with the national prevalence rate of child marriage currently standing at 19 per cent.
The harmful practice is robbing many girls of their education, health and future – a situation that requires the collective efforts of key stakeholders to nip in the bud.
It is against this background that the Ghana Office of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is seeking the support of the National House of Chiefs in ending child marriage across the country as custodians of cultural heritage.
It wants the House to consider declaring abandonment of child marriage from the national to the community level to allow young girls to reach their potential.
Dr. Wilfred Ochan, Country Representative for UNFPA in Ghana, who made the call, said society looked up to chiefs as traditional leaders on matters of culture, hence their roles in ending child marriage was critical.
“You have the most elaborate structure from the National House of Chiefs to that village and household level that can be used for mobilising the population for social transformation and economic development,” he told the House, when he led a team of officials from his office to call on the House in Kumasi.
The visit was to implore the House to play leading role in the declaration of abandonment of child marriage in Ghana to support global efforts geared towards ending child marriage.
Dr. Ochan said cultural and traditional institutions are not merely a relic of the past but a dynamic force for development, continually evolving to preserve the people while documenting the rich history and traditions of each of the cultures.
The UNFPA Country Representative said child marriage could only hold back the development and progress of society, saying that, supporting girls to go to school would ensure more empowered young people who could contribute to social and economic development.
“When we come together to declare abandonment of child marriage and also come up with mechanisms to enforce this, then we will be supporting the development of these young girls and our communities,” he noted.
He encouraged the National House of Chiefs to take that critical decision to empower the girl child and also give her a chance in life which could lead to development in their traditional areas.
Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi, President of the National House of Chiefs, applauded the UNFPA and its partners for their efforts to end child marriage and pledged the commitment of the House to the fight against the menace.
He, however, expressed doubt over the prevalence rate of child marriage in Ghana, and urged the UNFPA team to further interrogate the figures, which he said, could be misleading.
