An influential traditional priest aged 63 has sparked an outrage in Ghana by marrying a 12-year-old girl.

The priest, Nuumo Borketey Laweh Tsuru XXXIII, married her in a customary ceremony held on Saturday.

In the face of criticism, community leaders have said people do not understand their customs and tradition.

The legal minimum age to get married in Ghana is 18 and the prevalence of child marriage has declined, but it continues to happen.

According to the global campaigning NGO Girls Not Brides, 19% of girls in the country are married before they reach 18 and 5% get married before their 15th birthday.

Videos and photos of Saturday’s elaborate event that was attended by dozens of community members have been widely shared on social media, triggering an outcry among many Ghanaians.

  • DigitalTraveler42@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    You’re acting like the Catholic Church is well regarded in England at all, lol, a certain British King put an end to all of that, and the Catholic Church helped wage a proxy war in Ireland for centuries in retaliation, with the poor Irish caught in the middle being used and abused by both sides.

    My point is, the BBC absolutely reports on priests/clerics getting in trouble for pedo stuff all of the time, both Catholic and all of the other flavors, including Islam. Sure the BBC is a biased government controlled media entity, but in this regard they do plenty of reporting on religious pedos, now if only they would out some of the government pedos in the British government.