The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has called for the abolition of customs and traditional practices that hinder development.

The commission cited early and forced marriages as two of such practices, which need immediate abolition.

At a forum organised by the Agona East Directorate of the commission at Agona Mensakrom, the commission pointed out that early, child and forced marriages were retarding the nation's development.

The Agona East District Director, Neenyi F.K.A. Tagoe, urged Ghanaians to stop using poverty as an excuse for giving out their daughters into early marriage.

He said good education must be used to eradicate poverty from a family, but not early marriage.

Neenyi Tagoe said according to a United Nations law, marriage must be contracted with the consent of the would-be spouses.

He said those who contracted marriage at the age of 16 with the consent of the girl’s parents were doing so against the 1992 Constitution, which peg adult’s age at 18.

The Effutu District Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Richmond Mensah, who was the resource person, said rights which were inimical to the mental wellbeing of a person must be discarded.

He quoted Article 28 of the 1992 Constitution and Article 14 of the Child’s Rights Act (Act 560) to buttress his case.

He said early marriage truncated education, and appealed to school authorities to intensify adolescent health education in schools.