Editorial
Protect and empower adolescent girls
Many adolescent girls in Ghana are subjected to pressures from society, including early marriage, which hinders their growth and well-being and prevents them from reaching their full potential.
These pressures include, but are not limited to, financial, educational, psychological, and emotional challenges.
Adolescence is the period of life between childhood and adulthood from the ages of 10 to 19. They are an essential component of society and may make a positive impact on their communities and families both now and in the future.
Throughout this period, they grow quickly in terms of their physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development which has an impact on their emotions, thoughts, decision-making, and interactions with the outside environment.
Also, they are vulnerable at this point and need to be protected. In order for adolescent girls to make decisions that will define their adult lives with parental guidance, parents must ensure that their daughters have a solid foundation of knowledge and strong values.
Although adolescents require parental or guardian protection, they also require some degree of independence to make decisions for themselves because they are still young.
Ghana was the first nation in history to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1990. While governments have developed and implemented various legal and institutional structures to support the empowerment of adolescent girls through this ratification, more work is needed to ensure that adolescent girls’ rights are fulfilled.
The Spectator is in favour of this since it will enable them to completely confront their own issues and make a positive contribution to their own lives.
In order to support Ghana’s overall development toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) asserts that continuous and coordinated investments in the rights and welfare of teenage girls are necessary.
According to a research titled “Protecting and empowering adolescent girls in Ghana,” many girls between the ages of 10 and 19 – especially the most marginalised and vulnerable – have their possibilities hampered by early pregnancy, violence, and an overwhelming amount of domestic responsibilities.
In order to support Ghana’s overall development toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) asserts that continuous and coordinated investments in the rights and welfare of adolescent girls are necessary.
According to the survey, 10 percent of adolescent girls had sex before turning 15, and early pregnancies raise the risk of maternal mortality, which is the main cause of death for teenage girls.
Adolescent girls’ education may be interrupted or curtailed by child marriage. For this reason, “it is imperative to prioritise their education, protection, health and well-being to not only fulfil their fundamental rights but also contribute to the peace, security and sustainable development of the entire country.”
Let us protect and empower adolescent girls to fulfil their dreams in life.
Dear Editor,
I wish to use this esteemed platform to urge the traditional councils of Osu and La to call for independent investigation into the recent demolition exercise at Kaajaano.
The exercise rendered hundreds homeless.
Information about the reason for the demolition has been scanty with those desiring to know feeding heavily on social media posts.
One particular name –Jato, has been associated with it but under whose instruction the exercise was carried is also not known.
Sadly, instead of getting to know who ordered the demolition and for what reasons, traditional authorities of Osu and La have been embroiled in a tug-of-war over ownership of the said land.
This is premature. At this moment, they should call for investigation into the exercise to know the people behind it.
When that is done, then discussions about the owners of the site can begin. That would end the posture of the two neighbouring town which has the potential to turn into something else.
Ataa Osa Mensah,
Osu
Dear Editor,
I wish to use your respected platform to draw the attention of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to the behaviour of traders and some drivers about the use of lower denomination coins, specifically the 20 and 10 pesewas.
About two weeks ago, I read in your sister newspaper, The Ghanaian Times about this problem and the caution that followed from the BoG and some economic analysts.
The warning they gave was that the continuous rejection of the notes could create pricing problems which can eventually affect inflation.
I thought that would put to bed that practice or refusal to accept the coins when given out as change or use to pay for particular service.
Unfortunately, the problem still persist among traders, drivers, customers and passengers alike. Only last week, there was as altercation in the Accra Central area where a woman refused to accept five 20 pesewas note totaling one cedi.
As the argument continued, the trader decided not to sell to the customer again after by-standers explained to her that it was still a legal tender and those that refused it could become offenders.
This is an issue the BoG and other regulatory agencies must go and explain to the people and let them know that it is unlawful not to accept a currency that is still in use.
It nothing was done, it could create a much more serious problems.
Mary Osei Badu,
Swedru
