A 16-year-old Girl must be in school, not following a 45-year-old man – Justice Mensah warns
Supreme Court nominee, Justice Philip Bright Mensah, has weighed in on the ongoing debate surrounding Ghana’s legal age of sexual consent, urging lawmakers not to amend the current law, which sets the threshold at 16 years.
Speaking during his vetting before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, Justice Mensah acknowledged the complex moral and legal questions involved but maintained that the existing framework reflects a practical balance between legal intent and societal realities.
“Will these girls wait till 18?” he asked pointedly. “That is a question we must also settle ourselves with. If she remains in chastity till 18, well and good.
“But you as a parent, you will be sleeping and your daughter will be somewhere else which you have no idea about. How can you control her? So please let the law remain what it is, at least for now.”
Justice Mensah clarified that while the marital age remains at 18 under Ghanaian law, the age of consent for sexual relations is lower—a disparity that has triggered public discourse in recent years.
“I think the intention of the law which puts the marital age at 18 was thinking that by 18 years, the girl would have been a mature person to be able to know her responsibility so far as marriage is concerned,” he said.
“Now, why should a girl have sex at 16 and not be permitted to be married? There’s more of a moral question, sort of.”
He stressed that the law’s design aims to reflect a stage where an individual may begin engaging in consensual behavior, while still protecting them from early marriage and its lifelong consequences.
“Because, look, 16 years, what does the girl know? The girl does not know anything. But if she’s 18, and the Constitution even describes an adult person as 18 years.
“So if you are 18, the presumption is that you have seen life a little to be able to be independent or take care of yourself when you are married,” he argued.
“At 16, the girl must be in school; they should not go and follow a 45-year-old man.”
