Parents to be sanctioned for allowing daughters to migrate - Chief

Kumbungu (N/R), Aug. 25, GNA- Parents who allow their daughters to migrate to cities in southern Ghana to engage in menial jobs would be sanctioned, the Kumbung Naa Iddirisu Abu, Paramount Chief of the Kumbungu Traditional Area has warned.

He said the Tolon/Kumbungu District was one of the leading areas in the Northern Region from where many young girls migrate to southern Ghana as porters.

Naa Abu therefore, urged parents to discourage their daughters from such ventures since they risk getting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

He was speaking at an HIV/AIDS intervention forum organised for 45 divisional and sub traditional authorities, youth associations and religious organizations in the Tolon/Kumbungu District to stem the spread of the disease in the area.

The Northern Rural Development Association (NORDA), a local NGO, which organised the forum, educated the participants on HIV/AIDS transmission, symptoms of the disease and effects of stigmatisation on people living with the disease.

The Kumbung Naa urged youth associations in the district to form committees in communities to go to the cities and bring back their daughters to be enrolled in vocational institutions for them to acquire employable skills.

He asked committees to monitor the movement of young girls in the area for sanctions to be taken against the recalcitrant ones.

Naa Abu attributed the mass exodus of young girls in the area to the cities to lack of parental care, saying, "Most parents now do not care about where their children sleep and what they eat or wear. We must think of a better way of bringing up our children".