UERCC strategises to curb FGM

The Upper East Regional Coordinating Council (UERCC) and the Municipal and District Assemblies (MDAs) are to strategise and take measures to curb Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in some parts of the region.

The Upper East Deputy Regional Minister, Mr Daniel Syme said this, when stakeholders, including heads of departments and Civil Society Organizations, raised the concern at a Regional Mid Year Cross Sectorial Review Meeting, organised by the UNICEF and the UERCC in Bolgatanga, over the weekend.

“We are going to institute a process to deter parents from sending their babies and daughters across the border towns to neigbouring countries such as Burkina Faso for this inhuman and negative cultural practice.

“The Assembly members of the various MDAs will be tasked to sensitize parents to stop this barbaric act. We cannot allow this in this 21st century”, the Minister stressed.

According to the participants, the practice of FGM was very common in the Pusiga District, Bawku Municipal, Bawku West and the Kessena Nankana West Districts, which shares border with the neigbouring countries, where some parents often cross with their babies and daughters for such acts.

He warned that it was a crime under the laws of Ghana to embark on such negative cultural practices, adding that, parents found indulging in the heinous crime would not be spared when caught, including accomplices.

The Participants also stated that, as part of measures to check and stop the trend, there was the need for health professionals to monitor babies, who are usually sent to health facilities, to check whether the act had been performed on them, since many parents conduct the exercise just after the birth of their babies.

They also impressed upon teachers to constantly monitor the absence of female school children since some of the parents often smuggle out their daughters for the act, which keeps them from school for some period.

Ms Clara Dube, Chief Field Officer of UNICEF, in Tamale, expressed worry about some parents in the region given out their daughters for early marriages, some as early 18 years and below, adding that, “available statistics indicates that 39 per cent of females in the Upper East Region are given out for marriages at the age of 18 years”.

She explained that one of the major causes of complicated child birth could be attributed to early marriages and entreated parents to stop the act.

Ms Rubby Anang, Chief Field Officer of UNICEF in charge of Child Protection Network, indicated that children are very important resources and everything possible must be done to ensure their proper upbringing and exhorted the stakeholders, particularly members of the Upper East Child Protection Network, to sensitize parents on their roles and responsibilities in the upbringing of their children.

The objectives of the review meeting was to discuss progress of implementation of work plans, as well as the way forward in reducing disparities and improving equity on key outcomes , particularly to meet the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5.