Africa: The pictures of a wedding in the African country of Ghana’s Nungua city are attracting the world’s attention. Here, a 63-year-old religious leader married a 12-year-old girl. This ceremony of the religious leader’s marriage to a girl 49 years younger than him took place in Nungua on Saturday, March 30. The name of the 63-year-old groom is Nuumo Borkete Laveh Tsuru. Vulomo married a 12-year-old girl named Okromo. A large number of guests also attended this wedding and all the rituals were performed.
A guest at the wedding said that the marriage was a result of a long-standing tradition in the region in which the priest marries a virgin girl. The priest chose the girl six years ago when she was just six years old. The girl will now participate in several other traditional ceremonies focused on purification. The guest also said that at present there is no virgin girl above the age of nine in Nangua.
‘This is necessary for the safety of girls’
After this special marriage, there will be a ritual of purification of the girl. This ritual is believed to empower her to fulfill her anticipated responsibilities as the wife of Nuumo Borkete Laweh, which includes bearing children. The shrine priest Gborbu Vulomo in Nungua, Greater Accra Region, defended the marriage, saying she is still in school, she does not live with the shrine priest. We have performed a traditional marriage for the girl to protect her from other men.
Starr FM in Ghana reported that the ceremony was necessary to ensure that no man would sexually taint her. The cleric said the marriage had a historical and spiritual relevance. He said the girl was a reincarnated woman who lived 300 years ago and had returned to ensure that sacred rituals of one of the gods that had not been performed for years were performed. The cleric must wait until the child reaches maturity or the legal age of marriage and childbearing before he can have sexual relations with her, Starr FM reported.
