A private legal practitioner Ursula Owusu has warned of dire consequences if the age of consensual sex is tempered with for purposes of marriage.

She said the two acts are entirely different and should not be combined.

“If you are old enough to take decisions about your own sexuality it doesn’t mean you are old enough to be married.” Ursula Owusu told Joy News’ Bernard Saibu on Thursday.

Permutations between age of consensual sex and age of marriage have come up following the controversy surrounding the proprietor of Great Lamptey Mills School, Enoch Nii Lamptey Mills who has been accused of impregnating his student and offering to marry her.

The student is said to be 16 years old and could consent to sex, but cannot get married, meaning the proprietor may not necessarily have offended the law for having sex with the young lady but could be be culpable for agreeing to marry her at that age.

By the country’s statutes the age of marriage is 18, but the age of consensual sex is 16, meaning a girl can consent to sex when she is above 16 but can only get married at 18.

Following the Lamptey Mills saga, lawyers and human rights advocates have agitated for a single age for consensual sex and marriage.

Lawyer, Atta Achia said there is a lacuna between the age of consensual sex and marriage and until that gap is bridged young ladies will be exploited by irresponsible male counterparts.

But Ursula Owusu disagrees. She said it will be suicidal to peg the two acts at the same age.

“When did sex become synonymous to marriage. I don’t know why sex must be synonymous to marriage. Some children are sometimes sexually active at the age of 12,” she argued.

Whilst advocating for a comprehensive moral education and responsible behavior to deter the youth from having sex at a tender age, Owusu said the country must draw a fine line between sex and marriage.
If the two acts should be synchronized at the same age, one of two things should happen, she analyzed.

Then the age of consensual sex would have to be delayed for two more years or that the age of marriage would be reduced by the same years.

Either way, Ursula Owusu maintained the country is doomed.

If the first option of delaying the consensual sex is adopted, the country risks criminalizing and imprisoning majority of its youth for merely responding to their hormones, she argued. And if the second is adopted we will force our immature children into marriage when they are not emotionally, psychologically and physically prepared for the task.

She concluded the status quo provided the appropriate remedy for the quandary, insisting the existing law strikes a fine balance between when to have sex and when to get married.

Play the attached audio for excerpts of Owusu’s arguements

Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline

Source: myjoyonline