Girl seeks tribunal's intervention against forced marriage

Elizabeth Maabi, 18, of Ashiabre village in the Nkwanta District, has brought an action against her father Maabi Konkomba before the Nkwanta District Tribunal seeking judicial relief to compel him to allow her to marry a man of her heart.

The relief is also to stop the father from forcing her to move into the home of a man from whom he took 10 million cedis as dowry. Maabi Konkomba admitted the claim brought against him at an earlier sitting and explained that his daughter left home for ten months to reside with a boyfriend and that he would have to pay back the dowry unless she returned to the man she was betrothed to. The tribunal chaired by Mr. Emmanuel Quist Agbezuge awarded a cost of 20,000 cedis against Maabi Konkomba for harassing his daughter against the tribunal's order not to do so. Elizabeth said when they left the tribunal after the first sitting, her uncle Bengrini Konkomba attempted to forcibly take her away from the Police into whose care the tribunal entrusted her. Prosecuting Police Sergeant M. K. Nyinase and Mr. J. P. Sarkodie the Tribunal's Bailiff confirmed Elizabeth's story. The tribunal accordingly remanded Bengrini in custody for two weeks for contempt to reappear on June 8 to answer a charge of attempted kidnapping.

Among the Konkombas, betrothing young girls to men is a normal traditional practice.