The annual event was organized by local women and child rights advocacy Non Governmental Organization, Songtaba, in partnership with Plan International Ghana.

The celebrants comprising some selected female students from the region, admonished all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to join the bandwagon.

A communiqué read by a representative of the Girls Advocacy Alliance (GAA), Miss Aisha Zakaria, stated that, “Child marriage is a clear violation of children’s basic human rights, and the victims should be supported and empowered to acquire higher academic laurels.”

She emphasized the need for the MMDAs and central government to sponsor girl child education at all levels.

She also urged duty bearers to strictly enforce laws frowning upon all forms of girl child abuse.

The Gushiegu District Chief Executive (DCE), Musah Iddi, unveiled government’s plan to establish a model school for girls.

This, according to him, forms part of the Assembly’s forward march to fight early marriage, and also promote girl child education there.

Musah Iddi bemoaned inadequate female teachers in the area for which reason there is the need to overturn the situation.

According to UNICEF, in Ghana, one in every five girls is in marriage or in an informal union or cohabitation arrangement.

In Northern Ghana, it is one in every three girls. The incidence of child marriage in the area is attributed to negative cultural practices, religious beliefs, poverty, peer pressure, illiteracy and parental irresponsibility.

Currently, Plan International Ghana is supporting Songtaba with funding under its Girls Advocacy Alliance project, to curb the menace of child marriage, and other forms of right violations in five districts of Northern Region over a period of five years.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Assembly Members, who spoke to Citi News alleged that Dr Ziblim favours a particular individual for the DCE slot.

[contextly_sidebar id=”b9FdEfunpdFIBbbnsUD3t1CqnZRUUsxB”]It is, for this reason, the Assembly Members are accusing the MP of frustrating the confirmation of the nominee,

Wajack Zakaria, a member of the Gushiegu District Assembly, revealed that before the confirmation vote, indications were that the Assembly was going to confirm the nominee till the MP, stepped in with his address where he basically said: “they could decide to vote or not to vote.”

Mr. Zakari further alleged that “some of the assembly members were given some amount (GHc 700) to deter them from voting for the guy [Yakubu Abdulai].”

Financial incentives appear to be the norm in Gushiegu District Assembly with Mr. Zakari noting that, “actually it is a laid down rule that when the nominees are going to be confirmed, at least the nominees should give something. So he [Yakubu Abdulai] went round and gave everybody [GHc 500 each].”

But “afterwards, the MP also came out with his GHc 700 to distribute to those he felt he could deter from voting. According to what I hear, he gave each and everyone GHc 700… He has support for a particular man but because the government did not nominate his candidate, he wants the downfall of the guy [the DCE nominee] so that his man will come on board.”

The failed Gushiegu DCE nominee, Yakubu Abdulai polled nine out of 32 votes cast during the confirmation sitting.

So far, the majority of the remaining 25 MMDCE nominees in the Northern Region, including those for Sagnarigu, Yendi, Zabzugu, Tatale-Sanguli, Ygaba-Kubori, Nanumba north and Nanumba south have been confirmed.

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By: Sixtus Dong Ullo/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Both Yakubu Abdulai for Gushiegu and J.K Alhassan for Bunkprugu today [Thursday], failed to secure 50% of the total votes cast.

In the case of the failed Gushiegu DCE nominee, Yakubu Abdulai polled nine out of 32 votes cast.

His counterpart in Bunkprugu/Yunyoo, J.K Alhassan, secured 17 out of 32 votes cast, which fell short of the requirement to warrant a second round voting.

The President would have to replace the two failed nominees to serve the people’s interest. The Northern Regional Minister, Salifu Saeed described their rejection as unfortunate.

He however commended residents of the two districts for using the confirmation processes to reject the nominees. Salifu Saeed called for peaceful co-existence to attract investors and development partners to the areas.

So far, the majority of the remaining 25 MMDCE nominees including those for Sagnarigu, Yendi, Zabzugu, Tatale-Sanguli, Ygaba-Kubori, Nanumba north and Nanumba south have been confirmed.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Gushiegu, Bunkprugu, DCE nominees rejected appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The suspect, Ziblila Ibrahim alias Bulubulu is in the grips of the Gushiegu district police command.

The deceased’s uncle, in a Citi News interview, narrated that the duo had a misunderstanding at a banku joint.

[contextly_sidebar id=”MYbSf0W3lypCSg0P6r9tU5B0hX9AWqx4″]According to Abdul Salam Yakubu, the suspect accused the deceased of bypassing him to be served by the banku seller.

“Unexpectedly, the suspect later accosted my nephew on his way home and stabbed him to death at 10 pm last night,” he recounted.

Abdul Salam Yakubu said the body of the deceased has been deposited at the Gushegu district hospital morgue.

The family has admonished the police to immediately prosecute the suspect or expect a reprisal attack.

The Police’s rapid response to the crime scene foiled an attempt by some angry community members to set ablaze the suspect’s family house.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Man stabbed to death over ‘banku’ in Gushiegu appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The women, who all live in Italy, described the “devastating suffering” caused by the church’s ban on priests having sex and marrying.

“We love these men and they love us,” they said in their letter published on the authoritative website Vatican Insider.

“With humility, we place at your feet our suffering so that something can change, not just for us but for the good of the whole Church,” they added in the message, signed with their first names and an initial of their last names, but with several phone numbers.

Priestly celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church, while not a unchangeable dogma, is a tradition going back more than 1,000 years.

In recent decades the Vatican has come under pressure to make celibacy optional and allow priests to marry, with supporters saying that this would help ease the acute shortage of priests in many areas.

The women asked the pope to “bless our love,” adding that few people could understand the “devastating suffering lived by a woman who has a strong love for a priest”.

The Church teaches that a priest should dedicate himself totally to his vocation, essentially taking the Church as his spouse, in order to help fulfil its mission.

But the women told the pope that their men would be able to serve the Church “with greater passion” if they were supported by a woman who loves them and children.

This was far better for the priests and the Church, they argued in the letter sent to the Vatican, than “a life of continued clandestineness, with the frustration of a love that is not complete”.

The women asked to meet the pope to explain the plight “tearing apart our souls” because the couples were faced with the alternatives of either the men leaving the priesthood or carrying on the relationships in secret.

Proponents of optional celibacy in the Church have linked the sexual abuse of children by priests to its celibacy rule, saying that it could stem from sexual frustrations.

But the Church has rejected this argument, saying that paedophilia, whether in the Church or outside of it, is carried out by people with psychological problems.

Priests are allowed to marry in the Anglican and other Protestant churches as well as in the Orthodox Church.

Source: Reuters.com

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