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A 14-year-old orphan who happens to be a single mother has been married off to a 48-year-old man.
Such incidences mostly take place in the rural areas of the country, but this particular one happened in La, a suburb of the national capital, Accra.
According to reports, Naa (not her real name) got married off to Akwetey Alban Ashong, after the father of her 6-month-old baby disappeared after getting her pregnant.
The news website reports that Naa was 10 years old when her parents died, leaving her grandmother to care for her. The now 14-year-old got pregnant at age 14 and had to live on GHC2 a day as the father of her child disappeared.
“I was running errands for my grandmother when I met the first man who impregnated me. He left me to my fate after I told him I was pregnant. It was difficult at home. My grandmother has to shoulder the responsibility. It wasn’t easy at all,” the teenage mother is quoted to have said.
Her marriage to Akwetey Alban Ashong was facilitated by her guardian, Elizabeth Borley, who told Naa that she wanted to help her out of her predicament.
Then, with a bottle of schnapps, Naa became Ashong’s wife and lives with him currently.
“When I was told I will be married off to this man, I was happy because living with my grandmother was difficult,” Naa said.
Despite Naa being underage and any sexual activity with her might amount to defilement, a crime punishable by law, Ashong said he did not see anything wrong with marrying her.
“I don’t think it is criminal. I don’t pay heed to naysayers. She’s a woman who will soon grow and so I’m not worried at all”.
Elizabeth Borley who gave out Naa’s hand in marriage to Ashong insisted that she took the best decision for the young mother.
“It doesn’t bother me because she’s already delivered a child. It is better to marry her off than have another man impregnate her.”
Meanwhile, criminal lawyer Yaw Danquah is reported to have called for the arrest and prosecution of Ashong and all his conspirators as Naa has admitted to having sex with her new husband already.
“Yes! He slept with me,” she said.
According to the UNFPA-Unicef program to accelerate action to end child marriage in the country, Ghana’s regions are recording a high prevalence rate of child marriages. On average, 1 out of 5 girls in Ghana is married off before their 18th birthday. In other words, the percentage of girls between 20 and 24 years old who were married or in a union by age 18 is 21% nationally.
This amounts to approximately 260,000 affected girls in the country. However, for girls living in the three northern regions of Ghana (Northern Region, Upper East and Upper West regions), this number increases to 1 out of 3 girls (34%). Marriage before age 15 does occur, although it is rarer for girls in Ghana (national prevalence of 5%).
