The Municipal Chief Executive for the Kassena-Nankana East in the Upper East Region, Joseph Adongo has described the increasing rate of teenage pregnancy in his jurisdiction as disturbing. Says, anyone who impregnates a teenage girl will be arrested and handed over to the police to face the law. Apexnewsgh.com report
According to Mr. Adongo, he is very concerned, because the issue is something that has been disturbing them all along at the Assembly. “You can even imagine people marrying at primary school”.
Speaking at a radio station Dreamzfm monitored by Apexnewsgh.com Mr. Adongo said the issue of teenage pregnancy is taken seriously: “I think that we as an assembly because we take it very seriously, we met and agreed that we are going to open the confrontation up. If you impregnate a girl or as a result, if you let a girl stop attending school, you are taken to the police and the law will deal with you. At first, we say, if someone impregnates a girl, the girl can get married. But now we are saying that the one who caused it should also suffer for it. Sometimes, it happens, the girl stopped and the boy continues”.
“So we think that this forced marriage is one the thing that is causing all these things. So, we in the assembly agreed that nobody, no politician, no opinion leader should get involved when something like this comes up.
“Is unfortunate that in the villages and even in towns, what is happening is that the parents give up. Someone comes to impregnate your daughter and you will say, now she is pregnant what can I do? The only thing is to push her to get married and then it stops there”.
He cited the example of one case he witnessed at the Naaga Chief Palace.
“I think the issue is very serious and is should be tackled from both sides, parents, teachers, and even the society the way we look at it I think she has gotten some breast, (she is matured and this attitude of the female is not supposed to go further) is not helping the situation”.
“We have realized that the performance of this all night music jams, passing out and those things. We discussed and say that the chiefs and the opinion leaders in the various areas should put measures in place to make sure that those activities don’t stay beyond a particular period and certain ages should not be allowed to be there at that particular moment, we are looking at not only the female but the one who has caused it. We are also sensitizing the people on how to protect their children till they get to the higher level”.
Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana
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