The Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG), a non-governmental organization, has called for traditional authorities to assist initiatives and campaigns to stop child marriage and promote female education and empowerment.
Ms Fatima Ayamga, Field Officer, PPAG, who made the call, stated that child marriage continues to be detrimental to the growth and development of young people, particularly girls, and that the situation necessitated urgent collective efforts from all stakeholders to address it in order to achieve accelerated sustainable development.
"These kids are our future, and we cannot afford to allow them to marry and start having children at such a young age." "Their schooling would be shortened, and they would be mentally unprepared for such a responsibility," she said.
She also urged all traditional authorities, including chiefs and queen mothers, to join the battle against the threat by teaching their subjects about the negative consequences of child marriage on community development and enforcing community norms to discourage individuals from engaging in the practice.
Ms Ayamga was addressing at the re-launch of PPAG's "End Child Marriage" campaign in Yorogo, a suburb of Bolgatanga Municipality in the Upper East Region.
It was part of a UNFPA initiative, funded by Global Affairs Canada, aimed at engaging community partners to help eradicate the issue of child marriage in the Municipality.
Ms. Ayamga stated that achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals remains a pipe dream until immediate action is made to address teen pregnancy and child marriage among youngsters.
She cautioned parents against pressuring their adolescent pregnant daughters into early marriage, stating that as disappointed as they may be in their daughters, forcing them to marry without regard for the child's safety might be harmful.
Instead, she believes that parents should encourage their children to return to school or learn a skill after they have children to guarantee that they have realistic economic opportunities and may live dignified lives.
Child marriage, according to Mr Jonathan Atsu Dordor, an investigator of the Ghana Police Service's Upper East Regional Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), is a criminal offense and a violation of the Children's Act of 1998, Act 560.
Mr Dordor highlighted that poverty had been recognized as a key motivator for parents to give their children under the age of 18 into marriage, and cautioned such parents that they risked being prosecuted if they did so.
"Even if we are impoverished, we have so many options for earning money or resolving problems that marriage should not be the final alternative and is also not prudent." As a result, any parent who forces their child to marry will face legal consequences.
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