The Executive Director of the Street Children Empowerment Foundation (SCEF), Mr. Paul Semeh, has said that 13 year old girls in James Town, who have not given birth, are considered barren.
Mr Semeh posited that the cycle of poverty has created a culture where the phenomenon of teenage mothers have been accepted as a normal and acceptable practice in James Town, a suburb in Accra.
Explaining further, Mr Semeh says in this development, young girls are encouraged by their parents and members of their community to have sexual partners who offer sex in exchange for whatever assistance they can give to these young girls to support the economy at home. Unfortunately most of these encounters lead to pregnancy.
Mr. Paul semeh, whose NGO is based in James Town and dedicated to putting street children in that community back to school, was speaking on Ahotor FM’s Mmabunu Mmre( Youth Time) with Akyena Brantuo on Saturday 18th February, 2017. He was contributing to the discussion ‘Valentine’s Day Celebration and it’s implications on the youth.
It will be recalled that the front page of the Saturday 4th February edition of the Ghanaian Times has carried the story ‘ 10, 000 teenage pregnancies recorded in G/A Region in 2016’. Of these number 241 were within the age bracket of 10 and 14.
Mr. Semeh is therefore calling for Education to reorient the youth on the essence of Valentine’s Day celebration so that instead of the reckless sexual activities, it will be an opportunity to raise awareness on this child pregnancy and it’s harmful effects.
He further affirmed that it is about time policy makers and all stakeholders engage the facts and statistics involve in this issue with the hope of finding a lasting solution to this challenge.
Daniel Koranteng Kwagyiri |ahotoronline.com|Ghana
