By Jacob Onuha Nelson
A leading member of the National Transitional Legislative Assembly (NTLA) has called on young people to reject early marriage as a crucial step towards improving the country’s social and economic situation.
Julius Ajo Molinga, the chairperson of the Eastern Equatoria National Parliamentary caucus, made the remarks on Wednesday during a young parliamentarian debate held at the August House.
“You young girls, reach eighteen years of age and produce good human beings that are [contributing to society] so that the situation changes from strange to strong,” “We don’t want to produce a mass that at the end of the day causes stress.” He mentioned.
Mulinga underscored that producing many children at a young age could lead to an increase in street children and thugs. “As far as child marriage is concerned, we don’t want to produce people who are substandard human beings in this country,” he stressed.
Early child marriage is primarily fuelled by harmful cultural practices within communities. “Good and bad cultures are there; take the good one and throw the bad ones out,” “The culture that you have to marry because the person is a virgin and paid a lot of cows this is wrong.” Mulinga argue.
Augustino Kulang Jube ‘a young parliamentarian representing Terekeka constituency, emphasized that early marriage forces children to drop out of school. “They will refuse to return back to their education because of the demeaning name that the community calls them after having a child,” which is not good.
Kulang also expressed concern that these practices violate constitutional protections. He cited Article 1, which states that every child must be protected from harmful traditions, customs, or practices that are likely to negatively affect the child’s life, health, welfare, dignity, or development.
He said that, “People are saying that the council of norms pretends the children have to go to school at an early age before they should get married,” and noting about the disparity in education access. “You see some boys who are going to school, but girls are not going to school.” Early child marriage is a tragic reality that disproportionately affects girls, depriving them of their basic rights and, for some, even their lives in South Sudan.
According to UNICEF, South Sudan has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, with over half of girls married before they reach 18 years old.