Name and shame defilement culprits- Camfed

The Campaign for Female Education Ghana (CamFEd – Ghana) has charged parents, guardians and local authorities to desist from resolving rape, defilement and other sexually related crimes at home and instead report to the appropriate quarters for better actions.

Mrs Sally Yeboah, Camfed- Ghana’s head of programs who made the call was of the view that if such cases are reported to the appropriate authorities for proper punishment meted against the culprits, it would go a long way to serve as deterrent to others to avoid future occurrence.

“As parents, we must be vigilant on our young girls and also, all of us here, let’s begin to talk to our parents not to accept that such cases be settled at home….. assuming an MP, a law maker, impregnates a teenager and all what the family could say is to settle the case at home just because the MP is an honorable man and also has money; also imaging a stepfather sleeps with the stepdaughter and impregnate her and again the family says it should be settled at home…..my sisters, let’s speak up because if it continues that way, it will motivate more men to also follow the suit but if they are named, shamed and if possible prosecuted, the upcoming men will know that the society does not accept that and they will in the long run desist from it,” Mrs Yeboah lamented.

She was speaking at a gathering at Ekumfi Essarkyer in the Ekumfi district of the Central Region (CR) to climax this year’s International Day of the Girl Child (IDGC) on Friday.

Speaking on the theme, “Empowering girls: Co-opting partners to end teenage pregnancy and child marriage in Ghana”, the guest speaker for the occasion, Mrs Gifty Nyome, urged parents not scold and force their teenage girls who accidentally get pregnant into early marriage saying “two wrongs can never be right” so parents must rather encourage and help the teenage mothers to be socially and economically stable before they allow them to go in for marriage.

“I’m not by this promoting teenage pregnancy or encouraging the girls to get pregnant, but my advice to the parents is that if upon all the advice and efforts, our girls get pregnant, the solution is not to push them to go and marry the guy responsible for the pregnancy, no! that won’t solve the problem; that would rather bring more hardship on the girl irrespective of her age, whether she’s18 years or not, because she’s not prepared and such a person doesn’t know anything about marriage…..so as a caring parent, yes the child has committed an offense but show some love; encourage her to if it’s her education that she’ll continue, you let her continues, if a skill training she will go in for, you take her so that she becomes financially dependent,” the Cape Coast-based Coastal Television CEO explained.

Mrs Nyome then charged parents to be bold and teach their teenage girls their sexual health and adolescence cycles at home, saying, failure on the part of the parents to do so will let the children be misled by their peers.

The event was organized by the Central regional chapter of the CamFEd Alumni (CAMA).

Source: Kojo Ata Kakrah Abrowah

anthonyabrowah@gmail.com