Upper East Region tops in child marriage incidence

The Upper East Region has been rated as the region with the highest incidence of early child marriage practices.

Out of the 50 percent average figure of girls rated, 36.2 percent of them got married between the ages of 10 to 16 years across the region.

This has resulted in most of them dropping out of school.

This was disclosed during a girls’ conference organized by Action-Aid Ghana (AAG), a non-governmental organization working to reduce poverty in Ghana at Binduri in the Binduri District of the Upper East Region.

The conference was held to sensitized stakeholders including parents, teachers, religious leaders, traditional rulers and the general public on the need to stop the practice, as it was sidelining the role girls and women played in the development of society.

The conference which brought together girls from all the basic schools in the area appealed to girls to live responsible lives and not to allow people, even their parents to lure them into early marriages.

Miss Abigail Baciara Bentie, Ambassador for the Child-Marriage campaign and winner of the 2014 TV3 reality show dubbed “Ghana Most Beautiful”, urged the girls to add more value to their lives by showing respect and care to their personalities.

She said they must prove to all that they can stand tall among their counterparts (boys) when given the chance.

Mr Sulley Alhassan, Upper East Regional Programmes Manager of AAG, said child marriage was prevalent in a number of villages and districts in spite of its negative consequences.

“Indeed the practice is not prevalent but the region has the highest of 36.2 percent in the whole country”, he said.

Mr Alhassan expressed unhappiness with the situation and called on government to collaborate with stakeholders to enforce policies and laws put in place to discourage the practice.