By: Antoinette Abbah
A member of the Population and Development Committee of Parliament and MP for Ketu South, Dzifa Gomashie, has urged the UNFPA to write to the Speaker of Parliament to put measures in place for the 40 females in Parliament to periodically engage adolescents across the country.
This, she said, will empower the adolescents and give them a sense of hope to aim high.
Madam Gomashie said this when 80 boys and girls from Adolescents’ Learning Forum, Legislators, and Delegates Conference interacted with Members of Parliament in Accra.
The conference, organised by the UNFPA, was to enable the adolescents to learn and be mentored by the MPs.
They also deliberated on topics such as child marriage and how to address challenges facing adolescents in their communities.
Madam Gomashie said programmes such as Chief Justice Mentoring Programme by Chief Justice Georgina Wood and leadership roles held by the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Marietta Brew Oppong, are great examples for adolescents.
“These great women fought hard to get to their positions. They didn’t have it on a silver platter, but with focus and perseverance. So, you have no excuse at all.’’
The Chairman of Population and Development Committee of Government, Dr. Rashid Pelpuo, said interacting with adolescents is a positive move as it will help prepare them for the future. He said they looked forward to such interactions to help prepare young people for the future.
UNFPA Country Director, Barnabas Yisa called on the adolescents to pick key lessons from their interactions with the MPs and share them back home in their communities, as this will greatly help their peers to make responsible decisions about their lives.
‘’Share the knowledge you have acquired here with your friends when you go back into your communities. This will help adolescents to take informed decisions about their lives.’’
During an open forum, the 37 MPs present urged all MPs, traditional rulers, and opinion leaders in communities to stop interfering in rape, defilement, and child marriage cases in their communities. They should encourage the victims and their parents to pursue such cases to their logical conclusions as these will serve as a deterrent to other perpetrators.
The 80 adolescents and 37 MPs from the learning forum were divided into three groups to discuss the causes of adolescent pregnancy, menstruation, menstrual hygiene, the high cost of sanitary pads, and sextual and gender-based violence.
After the discussions, there was a consensus that government abolish taxes on sanitary pads to enable the poor to purchase them, as well as call for punitive laws on sexual and gender-based violence to deter others from doing same.
