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The Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mr. Stephen Asamoah Boateng has said that his office is in touch with ministers whose mandates have a bearing on the purported marriage between a teenage girl, Naa Yoomo Ayemuede and the Chief Priest of Nungua, Nuumo Borketey Laweh Tsuru XXXIII, to address the issue.

According to the minister, he had discussions on April 2, with the Minister Designate for Women, Gender and Social Protection, Dakoa Newman as well as the Attorney-General, Godfred Dame and Minister for the Interior, Henry Quartey.

Hon. Stephen Asamoah Boateng said, “I have managed to locate where she is with my colleague minister designate for Women, Gender and Social Protection. I have also been in touch with my other colleagues, Attorney-General and Interior. We have had a meeting this afternoon. I have taken the next step to discuss this matter with the Nungua Mantse and his elders and also with the Wulomo.”

Since the incidence took place on Saturday march 30, the Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs had not spoken about the matter. The minister’s reason was, “I am concerned that there is a minor we are dealing with here. My number one job is to secure the welfare and protection of a minor. It is not a condemnation of something I do not understand. My job involves traditional authorities who are part of the development of this country and my job is also to oversee the traditional, customary and all that. So, I cannot join the social media condemnation when I don’t understand facts. So, the first thing I did was to establish the facts and get my colleague ministers to ensure we have inter-ministerial coordination.”

He said that the legality or otherwise of the supposed marriage cannot be overlooked in their ongoing deliberations.

According to him, in as much as traditional authorities have the right to perform their rites, where such rituals conflict with the laws of the land, the latter must hold sway.

He added, “Things are unfolding and we recognize the traditional rites that they are mentioning, but when tradition clashes with statutes, the law does not allow such a thing. If that’s the case then the legal matter must be dealt with. Here is the case there is a minor involved. We’ve even established that the child known to most people as 12 years old, is actually 16. She is still a minor, but there is some uncertainty about her age and we need to get to the bottom of it” he said in reaction to calls by various stakeholders for the traditional authorities who contracted the marriage to be dealt with according to law’’.

Background 

News went viral over the weekend of an alleged marriage ceremony between a 63-year old Gborbu Wulomo of Nungua and a 12 year old, now 16 year old teenage which has received a severe public condemnation.

However, the office of the overlord of Ga-Dangbe state has explained that the traditional rite is for religious purposes, and the girl will not perform any conjugal obligations to the spiritual head. They added that the entire ritual has been misconstrued by the public adding that, there is no way the traditional will go contrary to the tenets of the constitution.