Marriage registration drops in Cape Coast
The Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly (CCMA) registered and celebrated 668 marriages last year, as against 677 the previous year.
Last year, the assembly reviewed upwards its registration fee from GH¢30 for normal marriage registration to GH¢50 while special marriage process went for between GH¢100 and GH¢150.
The Principal Executive Officer in charge of the Marriage Registry at the assembly, Mr Edward Steele-Dadzie, made this known to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview on Monday.
He attributed the reduction in the number of marriage registration in the metropolis to economic hardship, stressing that some people only visited his outfit to make enquiries while others kept postponing their registration.
Money realised from registration
He said an amount of GH¢31,000 was realised from the registration of 620 normal marriages which went through 21-day public notice, while GH¢6,300 was made from 48 special marriages which took less than the 21-day public notice.
From January to February 12, 2016, a total of 109 normal marriages had so far been registered with the assembly, while four special marriages had been registered so far.
Mr Steele-Dadzie said the oldest couple that registered their marriage last year was an 83-year-old groom and a 75-year-old bride, and the youngest couple was also 23-year-old groom and a 21-year-old bride, and added that a Muslim couple, a 43-year-old groom and his 19-year-old bride, also registered their marriage.
According to him, a 72-year-old groom and a 68-year-old bride, was the oldest couple that registered their marriage in 2014, while the youngest couple was a 23-year-old groom and a-21-year old bride.
High rate of divorce
Mr Steele-Dadzie expressed concern about the high rate of divorce cases and urged would-be couples to endeavour to adequately prepare themselves before going into marriage since marriage was a very important institution that should be treated as such.
He said it was unfortunate that some youth just followed the crowd and rushed into marriage without actually understanding its consequences, and urged them to always go for marriage counselling to prepare themselves adequately for marriage.
Mr Steele-Dadzie said in some cases, churches even helped couples to get married but when they were confronted with realities, those churches abandoned them compelling them to resort to divorce.
He also mentioned insincerity, as well as shirking of responsibilities as some of the causes of divorce in society.
He regretted the situation where young men were forced to marry girls they impregnated as a recipe for divorce, because in some cases, the men were psychologically and economically not prepared for the marriage thereby making it very difficult for them to manage their families.
