Tema, Jan. 18, GNA - Churches, that do not have the licence to register marriages have been urged to educate their members on the need to register their marriages with the District Assemblies after presenting them with the church certificate.
Mr Joseph Torso, a Marriage Counsellor at the Tema Municipal Assembly, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on Saturday made it clear that marriages are not legal if blessed in the churches only without the district assemblies legalising it.
Such marriages are not secured as there would be no document to show as evidence that they are married in any court of law when problem arises, he said, He explained that certificates issued by churches cannot be presented in courts therefore both couples become losers.
"Both parties then lose at court since there would be no document for evidence that they are married", Mt Torsu stated.
He observed that most couples are ignorant of the law and feel satisfied with the church certificates and said this becomes a problem when the marriage is not working and the need to dissolve it arises. The Counsellor entreated aspiring couples to seek counselling with qualified married counsellors before contracting relations to ensure their security in order to have their peace of mind.
He said the Marriage Registration Department of the TMA, last year registered about 2,407 marriages in the municipality and out which 1,956 were under ordinance while 451 were customary marriages as against 1,804 registered marriages in 2002 being 1,554 under ordinance and 250 customary.
Mr Torso attributed the increase in registration in 2003 to education embarked upon by his outfit and organised mass weddings by churches for couples to cut down cost as well as the demand for marriage certificates before being issued with a visa for people travelling abroad.
"The registration also enables them to protect their marriages since the marriage would be protected by the law", he said.
He said however, that most of the marriages which could not work had to be dissolved at the court because lack of understanding between two parties and advised churches to prepare couples to know each other very well at least spend six months for counselling before allowing them to marry to prevent divorce and subsequent hardships.
