The Executive Director for Youth Alliance for Development, Mr. Robert Ali Tanti has said Ghana’s failure to combat Child marriages is due to the poor enforcement of laws on Girl child protection.
In an interview with Obuasitoday.com, the Anti-Teenage Pregnancy chief campaigner said Ghana is quick to make laws but very poor at implementing or enforcing it.
“In this country, we are very quick to initiate laws but poor at enforcing it. This child marriage thing could be stopped if we start enforcing the laws to arrest perpetrators”, he stated.
Causes
According to him, we should attribute the rise of child marriages to some cultural practices, poverty and broken homes.
“Some of the main causes for this canker can be attributed to poverty, cultural practices and broken homes. In 2009, a man gave out his BECE candidate daughter to a man for marriage because he couldn’t settle a debt he owed him and now the poor girl has three kids”, he said.
According to him, until NGOs and CSOs rise up and take the matter up in the hinterlands, Ghana will continue to be the first in this canker.
He tasked the government to furnish the Girl Child Unit and and the Guidance and Counseling Units of the Ghana Education so they can sell the information down to the young girls and their parents.