Gender, health and development advocate, Zangbalung Bagzaa Issahaku Amadu has challenged young people in the northern region to change the status quo.
Chief Amadu is not happy that young people always portray the region in a negative light instead of a positive light.
“How come the north is always first in negatives but last in the positives,” the chief quzzed.
Chief Bagzaa who was addressing over 300 young people at NORSAAC ‘s second Northern Ghana Conference for Young People on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) in Tamale did not understand why a region with an illiteracy rate 62.8% according to 2010 census will not focus on education but on negative things.
The immediate pass director of population council also revealed that the region still led the rest of the country in polygamy with 52% in 1998 and even though it has been reduced to 22%, it is still the highest in the country.
The chief blamed the situation on what he called disinformation which leads to misinformation in various homes in the north and added that the worse form of behavior observed is yet to come because of what he described as porosity of marriage.
According to him, parents are not ready to limit child birth and they not also ready to bear the responsibilities for the children they bring into the world. Child marriage in the north he added stood at 39.6 percent.
He lamented the pattern of socialization which he said leads to so many child marriages and unintended pregnancies. He therefore urged the youth to learn about their reproductive physiology and stop wasting their precious time on pornographic materials.
Parents, he noted, need to furnish their young girls with the right sex information. “You can date but date with care and curfew,” he advised the youth. He blamed the current amorous feelings among young people to lack of sexual orientation.
“Be a woman before you become a mother and be a man before you become a father,” chief Alhassan advised. “The religion has been misinterpreted and culture is being misapplied. Family planning was good in the past but now children at 3-4 years are already matured.”
He urged NORSAAC to create synergy with other organizations to address young people challenges. Wife beating, he observed seems to becoming a societal norm in the north which is bad.
The young are following the bad behavior of adults which is influencing their lives in a negative way. On child marriage, he lamented some parents willingly giving out their children for marriage.
He appealed to traditional authorities and opinion leaders not to truncate the legal process that deals with child marriage and defilement cases.
Young people, Chief Bagzaa Naa said must be involved in all the decision making process from planning to implementation and evaluation.
According to Bagzaa, virginity which was key in marriage in the past is no longerobserved in marriage. Education and sex he said run in parallel lines and the youth must choose one which is the best for them.
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