The wedding of. is causing a scandal in Ghana a 12 year old teenager with a 63 year old animist priest. Controversy and dismay in the West African country have led to calls for the man's arrest. Priest Nuumo Borketey Laweh Tsuru XXXIII, also known as Gborbu Wulomo, married the girl in a traditional ceremony last Saturday near the capital Accra.
Police and authorities initially said the girl was 12 or 13 years old, but relevant traditional authorities say she is instead 16 years old.. “The child is almost 16 years old … she is still a minor,” Religious Affairs Minister Stephen Asamoah Boateng said in an interview with a local radio station.
Photos and videos of this union circulated on social networks, causing dismay among Internet users and child rights defenders. In Ghana, the minimum legal age for marriage is 18. “The state must act immediately,” said Nana Oye Bampoe Addo, activist and former minister for gender equality, children and social protection in Ghana, stressing that cultural practices are not consistent with the laws and the Constitution Ghanaian. “What just happened is a crime and it is illegal”, he added. “If the allegations are proven, they will constitute a crime for which all persons involved will be prosecuted,” the attorney general's office, which opened an investigation, said in a statement.