Young girls in some communities in the Upper West Region are cursing God everyday for making them female. Young men are preying upon them like the hawk preys on chickens that have no owner.
Young girls are slaves to "yesterday's" cultural and traditional practices that downgrade them as mere objects that have no rights to decide for themselves. They are subjected to negative cultural and traditional practices instituted against them by men. Their rights as human beings are being determined by their male counterparts all in the name of tradition and culture.
An average of 50 young girls below the ages of 15 and 17 are abducted for marriage every year in the Jirapa, Lambussie/Karni and Sissala East districts, a report from ActionAid Ghana, a non-governmental organization operating in Region indicated.
Many young girls in the communities, including school children, are forcefully taken away by men who make them their wives against their preference and choice. These girls have no choice, even though life is all about choice or selection.
The practice of abduction is an old tradition whereby young girls are kidnapped for marriage without their consent or that of their parents and it is more dominant in Jirapa and Lambussie/Karni communities. The girls are denied the right to education and also subjected to rape and other forms of abuse.
The number-one prayer and aim of these self-acclaimed husbands is getting their so called wives pregnant as soon as possible, no matter her age and her preparedness for the pregnancy. Occasionally, some of the girls in an attempt to abort the pregnancy to enable them to escape from their so-called husbands, die at a very tender age and in a very pitiful manner.
For those of them who suffer this fate, death is seen as a better option than the life of misery they are confined in. Some also die because their bodies are not matured enough to go through the natural process of childbirth, and therefore when they are in labour they bleed to death.
According to the ActionAid report, one issue that is militating against the right of girls to education is the abduction of girls at a tender age for marriage and that the practice also contributed to the high dropout rate of girls at the basic school level in some of the communities in the area.
Recalling her experience, Miss Amanda Dorsah, a victim of abduction said a young man from Sawale village in the Jirapa District took advantage of the practice and forced her into marriage. According to her, it had never been her desire to get married at an early age but it happened to her all in the name of tradition and culture. She said the young man who was interested in her hired other young men in the village and they laid ambush and kidnapped her when she was carrying firewood home. At the village, family members of the young man provided her food and water and sent a word to her parents about her whereabouts but her parents did not make any follow up.
"I stayed there and became confused but had no immediate plans to go back home until members of a Community Based Anti-Violence Team formed by ActionAid Ghana came to my rescue. Now that I have been released without any pregnancy, I want all to support me to be in school so that I do not drop out again. I am now in Junior High School Form-One and my expectation is that I will complete school and become a teacher in future", Miss Dorsah said.
Felicia Sorri, another young girl said she almost fell prey to the cruel cultural practice because there was no Junior High School in her community and she had to attend Junior High School in a nearby community. She said one day a young man from the community approached her and talked about her getting married to him but she declined. She told the man that she was not interested in that conversation but the young man responded by saying: "We shall see".
True to the man's words, one day as Felicia was preparing to leave for school she was told that some young men from Janvur village had laid ambush for her on the way to her school. She said she rushed to inform members of the Community Based Anti-Violence Team about it and they went to the village and warned the young men against the practice. "I am not interested in marriage because I want to complete school and be a trained nurse", Miss Sorri said.
Mr. George Dery, Upper West Regional Programme Manager of ActionAid Ghana said abduction was a criminal act and that ActionAid Ghana was collaborating with the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Ghana Police (DOVVSU) to sensitise 20 communities about the concept of the Community Based Anti-Violence Team (COMBAT) to protect girls and women from violence in the local communities.
He noted that DOVVSU officials were ready to support ActionAid Ghana and the COMBAT members to completely eradicate the practice of abduction and other harmful cultural practices in Jirapa that infringe on the rights of women and girls, and to create a safe environment for them to enjoy their rights fully.
He said 12 other communities had expressed interest to establish the Community Based Anti-Violence Teams to help check the increasing incidence of abduction and head porterage (Kayayo) among girls in the Region.
ActionAid Ghana is also collaborating with the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Department of Social Welfare to sensitise its COMBAT members on laws such as the Domestic Violence Act, Children’s Act and the Intestate Succession Law.
Mr. Dery said the NGO would facilitate the formation of more COMBATs in the communities and also engage with the Regional House of Chiefs to discuss cultural practices such as abduction and kidnapping which are illegal, and to solicit their commitment to abolish all negative cultural practices in the communities.
Abduction of young girls for marriage, among other social and cultural challenges, is contributing to the influx of young girls who for no choice of theirs have to relocate in the urban centres to escape from their ordeal back home.
Traditional rulers and other opinion leaders in the communities are helplessly looking on while the practice is becoming rampant in their communities. They fall short of taking any action because the practice of abduction, elopement and kidnapping of young girls in the communities for marriage is even older than they themselves and, in some instances too, their own children are involved in the practice.
These notwithstanding, obsolete and undignified cultural practices such as abduction, elopement, kidnapping of young girls must be discouraged because they effectively close a chapter in the lives of many young girls, thus depriving them of the opportunity to unearth their talents and potentials.
Apart from degrading and abusing the rights of girls, the practice also destroys the human resource base of the Region because some of the girls who could have risen to become doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, engineers, business magnates and even venture to the highest post of President or Vice President of the Republic, are denied that chance.
It is, therefore, high time the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regional Houses of Chiefs came together and collaborated with other stakeholders such as the District Assemblies and civil society organisations to identify all traditional practices that degrade the people and work towards abolishing them to pave way for the development and progress of society.
The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) should be adequately resourced to help educate the people on negative cultural practices such as abduction, kidnapping, and elopement among others that destroy the potential of many young girls in the rural communities.
Court actions should also be taken against young men who are engaged in the practice, and stiff punishments meted out to serve as a deterrent to others, while non-governmental organisations and human rights organisations like CHRAJ should combine their efforts to fight injustice and other challenges that confront young girls and women in the Upper West Region on a daily basis - all in the name of culture and tradition.