Day: June 18, 2024

Nana Adwoa Gyeduaa, a queen-mother, has appealed for support to empower girls to bring the rising cases of teenage pregnancy in the Sunyani West Municipality under control.

She said teenage pregnancy was alarming in the municipality due to economic hardships and poverty, stressing many teenage girls were engaged in sexual perversion because their parents were poor, and therefore could not cater for their adolescent needs.

‘Pre-marital sexual practices among teenage girls are more of an anthem here’, the queen-mother stated, saying ‘The unholy behaviour of these girls is now difficult to control’.

Nana Gyeduaa said the situation worsened at Odomase, and its adjoining communities and was thereby impeding girl-child education, as many of the victims were out of school.

She was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview at Odomase after her enstoolment as the Benkumhemaa (left-wing queen) of the Odomase Number One Traditional Area.

Nana Yaa Adanse Poduo II, the Paramount Queen Mother of Odomase
Number Two Traditional Area took Nana Gyeduaa through traditional rites to seal her enstoolment, amid drumming and dancing.

Nana Gyeduaa bemoaned what she described as the uncontrolled pre-marital sexual practices, particularly, among girls in the area resulting in high population growth and unemployment and called for immediate measures to control the situation.

She said the situation was becoming disturbing because of peer influences which had made even some ‘innocent girls’ see sex as a pleasure and an ‘eye opener’.

Earlier, Nana Poduo II advised queen mothers to live moderate lives to command respect from their subjects and society.

She said queenship was reserved for the humbled and dignified royals and warned that she would not tolerate any queen mother in the area whose behaviour would expose Odomase Number One stool to disrepute.

Nana Poduo II called on the chiefs and people of the area to accord the new queen mother the required respect and support to achieve her vision for the town.

Source: G
hana News Agency

A 53-year-old businesswoman has been enstooled as the Benkumhemaa (left-wing queen) of the Odomase Number One Traditional Area in the Sunyani West Municipality, with the stool name Nana Adwoa Gyeduaa II.

Known in private life as Adwoa Badu, Nana Gyeduaa II occupied the family stool made vacant by her grandmother Nana Henewaa who died early this year after a short illness.

Nana Yaa Adanse Poduo II, the Paramount Queen Mother of the Odomase Number One Traditional Area took the new sub-queen through the traditional rites to seal her enstoolment at a colourful ceremony held at Odomase, the municipal capital.

She entreated the chiefs and people of the area to accord the new sub-queen the required respect and dignity and support her to enable her to achieve her vision for the area.

Nana Poduo II cautioned the sub-queens in the area against arrogance and entreated them to respect the people they reigned over.

As the embodiment of women, she emphasised that queens were enstooled to serve the people and advised t
he new queen to help identify and tackle the pressing needs of the women and girls in the area.

Nana Poduo II congratulated Nana Gyeduaa II and expressed the hope that with her support and that of the sub-queens, the traditional council would be able to address issues inimical to the growth and development of women in the area.

On her part, Nana Gyeduaa II expressed appreciation to the chiefs and people of the area and pledged to exercise her responsibility in diligence.

She was later carried shoulder-high by the people on the street of the Odomase township amid dancing and drumming.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Some assembly members of the Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Assembly (KKMA) have expressed dissatisfaction over what they described as an insensitive End of Service Benefit paid to assembly members after four years of service. 

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Kpone, Mr Richard Tsatsu, assembly member for the Bethlehem electoral area, said the payment of GHS 2,250 to assembly members who served in the third assembly for four years as an end-of-service benefit was insensitive.

Mr Tsatsu, who also served under the third assembly, described it as sad for the leadership of the KKMA to disregard the sacrifices made by the members over the past four years.

He said they needed to be well recognised and appreciated for their selfless dedication and commitment towards the success of the municipal assembly as far as Internally Generated Funds (IGF) were concerned.

According to him, the KKMA, in approving the 2024 budget last year, agreed and approved a certain threshold to be paid as an end-of-service benefit to ass
embly members of the third Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Assembly, but ‘that did not happen.’

Mr Tsatsu explained that the regulations of the Local Government Act 936 Act (2016) spelt out the model standing orders for the various Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs), saying emoluments, including end-of-service benefits for presiding members and assembly members, must be determined by the assembly and paid out from its IGF.

Mr Peter Yao Glavi, the assembly member for the Kakasunanka electoral area, stressed that the workload of assembly members was enormous, stating that coordinating activities to ensure residents go about their normal duties, is something authorities should not overlook.

He said assembly members most of the time use their savings to solve community problems and pay for other expenses for residents, adding that the KKMA must at least be sensitive to their concerns and welfare. 

‘We pay our utility bills, school fees, and other expenses, so why disrespect us that way?’ he as
ked. 

According to him, the KKMA paid their predecessor assembly members who served in the second assembly GHS 4,000.00 in 2019 as an end-of-service benefit and therefore argued that paying them GHS 2,250.00 in 2024 was unfair, unjust, and blatant disrespect towards them.

The concerned assembly members called on the leadership of the KKMA to reconsider their decision and pay what was agreed in the 2024 composite budget as an end-of-service benefit for Assembly Members of the third assembly.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Regional Minister has commended Muslim women for their immeasurable contributions to the rapid economic growth and development of the region.

However, she called on them to do more and spend much of their resources on the education of their children, especially, Muslim girls.

That would enable their children to grow and become responsible adults and national assets and occupy enviable positions, but not liabilities.

The Regional Minister gave the commendation when she visited and interacted with some Muslim women at the Zongo Community in Sunyani and highlighted the need for the women to promote environmental sanitation too.

‘Your sacrifices in nurturing the Muslim child into a more responsible one will definitely go unnoticed,’ Madam Owusu Banahene said and advised the women to attach importance to the petty business they were doing.

She said the role of Muslim women in the upkeep of the family remained essential, hence the need for them to find something worth doi
ng to economically empower them to be able to support and provide for the needs of their families.

Madam Owusu-Banahene also advised the women to live in accordance with the tents of Islam, love and care for each other and endeavour to continue to live peaceably with people with different faiths.

She said peaceful co-existence among Muslims, Christians and people with other faiths and religion was required to push the holistic development of the region and the nation forward.

‘It is also your responsibility to take good care of the aged among you to acquire Allah’s blessings,’ the Minister advised the women.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Marilia (not real name), a teenage girl, was rescued from her intended marriage by the Boys Club of her community, which is one of the strongest men’s advocacy networks in her area and parts of the Upper East Region of Ghana.

For the young girl at 17, she is still looking for help to find a job that will sustain her and prepare her into adulthood.

However, after enrolling herself as an apprentice in her area to start her training as a sewist, she is yet to get a startup, and so must borrow an old sewing machine, which she currently shares with its owner who is also an apprentice.

Marilia said she will need about GHC 5,000 to enable her to get the needed materials as a beginner, which is a prerequisite for her entry as a trainee sewist.

Reports

Teenage Marriages is a human right violation with adverse effects on girl’s health including other socio-economic effects on girls who enter early marriages before they become of age and therefore creating a generational problem for the teenagers themselves and the
ir children.

In Ghana alone, reports indicate that one in five girls aged 20 to 24 years are married before the age of 18. Regional data from the 2014 Demographic Health Survey (DHS) reveals that in terms of regional records of percentages, the Northern region recorded 39.6 of child marriages, Upper West 37.3, the Upper East 36.1, Eastern Region 27.5, Western 32.9, Central Region 29.5, Ashanti Region 25.9, Volta 25.9 per cent, Bono and Ahafo Regions 23.9, and Greater Accra 18.5 per cent.

THE STORY OF THE TEENAGER

Marilia attended school in Navrongo in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality in the Upper East Region, but because of challenges ranging from financial difficulty by her parents to support her in school, the family decided to give her out for marriage.

Narrating her story during a follow up interview at her community, Marilia said, ‘When my marriage was stopped, not because I misconducted myself, but due to the many eyes of the public and outcry of the public, for being under aged at 17 years and too
young for marriage which put me into more trouble’. She said.

‘I have now opted to learn a trade because my Senior High School results cannot take me further up the educational ladder, so I will need financial support to enable me to achieve my dreams to become a good seamstress,’ she said.

The teenage Muslim girl from Gowrie whose marriage could not come on as scheduled by her family, like other teenage girls in Ghana and other places, go through challenges of abandonment, lack of support from their families when they fail to honour such decisions taken for them.

‘My single mother was earnestly happy that the marriage was the best option because after my father’s death, life had been difficult for her to single handedly support my siblings and I,’ she said.

In her response to how the family has been treating her after the failed marriage, she responded in a positive way. She said it is cordial.

‘My mother has no other option than to admit to the outcry of the community members, friends and activists aga
inst teenage marriages as the new law demands,’ she said.

Marilia, however, said things have not been the same, because her plans of learning a trade instead are being challenged by the lack of financial support, contrary to her expectation of life after her curtailed marriage.

UNFPA INTERVENTIONS

Thankfully, the UNFPA has been pushing for an end of the phenomena through its policies and drives programmes that support evidence-based, girl centred investments that empower girls with information, skills, and services they need to be healthy, educated, and safe to be able to transition into adult women.

Like other teenagers, Marilia has just ended a marriage that is believed, not right for her because of her health and her future, however interventions that will help her to keep herself out of the same situations call for interventions from the public, philanthropists, and individuals.

Though the UNFPA may not be supporting livelihood programmes directly, it is in partnership with institutions that can supp
ort activities to save young girls like Marilia through their collaborations.

However, but for the boys and Men’s network, the young girl would have been one of the latest recorded teenage marriages in the region.

The Network currently works under the Department of Gender, of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) in collaboration with communities, the district Assembly Members, traditional authority, and religious leaders aiming to educate the youth against child marriage, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and consequences of gender based violent acts.

Meanwhile, many challenges abound when girls of her kind are rescued from such predicaments and require societal support to come out of the challenges they face.

Recommendations

While Ghana is making efforts to promote girls’ education, skill development, and providing employment opportunities through government policies, there should be accelerated action to end child marriages in Ghana.

Mr James Twene, Regional Director of Upper East
Regional Department of Women who spoke with the GNA on the plight of the teenage girl, and efforts underway to support victims, reiterated calls for more advocacy to bring sectors together to improve situation of young girls in the country.

The Bolgatanga Regional Coordinating Council in the Upper East Region is one of the implementing partners on child marriage collaborator of the UNFPA in addressing Child marriage issues and will need to do more to harness the various sectors that support livelihood activities for young girls both married and unmarried with skills and information, increase their knowledge and skills.

The current UNFPA-supported intervention programmes are in six out of the 15 districts in the Upper East Region and such interventions should be extended to cover all districts and traditional authorities, to stamp their feet in condemning and helping to curtail child marriages.

The Department of Gender should receive support to upscale its intervention efforts to reach out to the districts
that have not yet been covered. This unified approach is vital in eliminating GBV and early marriages, as emphasized in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs), target 5.3.

The media also plays critical role in highlighting some of the health-related issues and therefore the Communication Advocacy Network (MCAN) is one media network that plays such significant roles in promoting health and social development in Ghana, working with partners to advocate against child marriages in the country.

Source: Ghana News Agency