Fielmuo (U/W), July 27, GNA – The Chiefs and people of the Fielmuo Divisional Area in the Sissala West District have vowed to end child marriages saying it is a social canker which has impeded girls’ socio-economic development.
The practice has also increased the poverty cycles and maternal deaths among young girls, the chiefs said.
They said people should not hide under socio cultural practices to perpetuate ignorance, poverty and disease through early marriages.
Naa Cyril K. Debang, the Gaaperi Naa, said this at the Community Empowerment against Child Marriage (CEACM) forum held at Fielmuo.
“Child marriage is abolished in the area and all stakeholders must ensure that they report cases of child marriages and other forms of abuses to the security agencies for the law to take its cause”, the chief said.
Naa Debang, who spoke on behalf of the Fielmuo Naa, Naa Francis Danikuu, said opinion leaders in all the 14 communities which formed the division have agreed to sanction any person found to indulge in the practice.
Dr Musheibu Mohammed Alfa, Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, said children occupy significant places in society and needed to be nurtured to enable them to become useful citizens.
He said children needed education to contribute their quota to the development of society, and nobody should do anything untoward to curtail the development of their potential.