A 14-year-old girl at Sekakuro, in a small town at Afram Plains in the Eastern region is being forced into marriage by her family.
Mary Aidoo who has never stepped foot into a classroom is being pushed by her parents to marry an older man who they claim will be able to take good care of her.
She works on the Volta Lake with her parents who appear to be in a haste to terminate their parental responsibilities.
Mary told this reporter that her parents started pushing for her to get married in 2016 to the man she barely knows.
She said the man is already married with two children, but is currently preparing to divorce his wife so he can marry her.
Appalled by the idea of marrying a man old enough to be her father, Mary told her mother that there was no way she would go through with their plan.
Her angry mother after many failed attempts to change her mind, sent her off to one of her older siblings at Winneba in the Central region.
While there, her mother hoped that the older sibling will convince her to accept the marriage proposal and return to the husband to be.
According to Mary, her sister, named only as Aba, told her that she should give in to their parent’s demands and marry the man.
Again she declined. Her main aim was either to go to school or learn a vocation – hairdressing.
Her sister obliged and took her to a training centre and promised to pay for her apprenticeship.
Later, however, her sister made a u-turn saying she was no longer in the position to pay for the apprenticeship and that her husband-to-be is ready to do so once they get married.
The girl again rejected the offer, a situation that infuriated Aba who the sent her parking from her house. She moved to another older sibling’s house at New Winneba who was also bent on convincing her to accept the marriage proposal.
But Mary is standing her grounds. The only thing she wants to do is to either go to school or get training in some vocation to support herself.
The mother has since refused to speak to the matter and to explain why she is forcing her 14-year-old into marriage.
