In Ghana, a marriage is not considered complete until the bride price has been paid.
Tribal bride prices have slowly increased from generation to generation, making it difficult for most men who want to get married.
In recent years, the cost of the bride price has led most men to believe that women are being sold to them. This has led some men to treat their wives badly.
But Rev. Jennifer Selly, a marriage counsellor at Petra International Church, was never sold to her husband.
She said her father did not give her husband's family a marriage list. She was sent to her husband as a gift, which has made him cherish her for the nearly 30 years they have been married.
"When my husband's family came to visit us, my father told them, 'I don't have a list for you. Just hearing that made my husband of 29 years love me and see me as everything because I was never sold to him.” She told Asieduwaa Akumia on Thursday's Prime Morning that she was given to him to look after.
Although her father didn't give her a list, she said he just told her husband's family to do the right thing and follow the rules.
Since their marriage, they have been happy together with few or no problems.
The counsellor said that most families miss the point of the bride price because they have turned it into a business.
She told the families to put their daughters' lives first and lower the bride price so that it doesn't look like the women are being sold.
She said the amount given should be a gift, not a fee. She said: "We shouldn't make it a must.
Rev. Jennifer Selly believes that the amount of money spent before and during marriage makes most marriages difficult.
