Child marriage inhumane – Aryee

It is improper for parents to push their teenage children, especially females, into early marriage, Joyce Aryee, founder of Salt & Light Ministries, has said.

According to her, there is the need to educate parents on the dangers that come with early child marriage and to apply the laws against the practice.

Speaking on the International Women’s Day edition of Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Wednesday 8 March, Ms Aryee, who is a former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, said: “First of all, I think we have to let parents know that it is actually inhumane to get your little girl to marry usually somebody who is as old as her grandfather or father.

“It is very inhumane to do that, parents have to understand that. A lot of times parents think that it is a cultural thing that needs to be done, but culture is very dynamic, it doesn’t stay static. So as development comes, culture also reshapes itself – you pick the good things.

“Why will a child get married at 12, 13, or 14 and 15? Sometime ago when we needed a lot of children to help with our farming and our other communal activity, we thought it was good while the child was young.

“So I think we should start with the parent and then from the parent let us go to the community leaders who should understand that and then we come to the legal systems in the country. We have to apply all of them at the same time because you can’t just talk to the parents and refuse to apply the law. The law must be applied and I think that when the law is applied and people have been spoken to, they will understand that you pay a price for breaking the law.”