According to her, this should be done on websites and social media pages of churches as well as those of the Registrar General’s Department and Assemblies to reach as many people as possible for any caveator to exercise his right on the same.
Private legal practitioner and partner at Bentsi Enchill Letsa and Ankomah, Miss Gloria Cofie has called for the modernization in the publication of marriage banns by the addition of pictures of the prospective spouses.
According to her, this should be done on websites and social media pages of churches as well as those of the Registrar General’s Department and Assemblies to reach as many people as possible for any caveator to exercise his right on the same.
She bemoaned the fact that the current law on the publication of banns is not effective and thus does not meet the true intent of the legislators.
“The current law on publication of banns is not effective because the true intent of the legislators is not being achieved. We need to amend the law to publish the banns on social media as well. The Metropolitan Assemblies and the RGD must publish the banns on their websites and their Facebook pages because there are a lot more people there.
And also for the publications in the churches we need to move to the situation where the churches will put it on their websites and social media platforms and radio and TV stations where available.”
Miss Cofie made this known at the maiden Marriage Governance Conference organized by Marryright Ghana Limited in her presentation on the topic; “Publication of Banns on Social Media and Websites: Achieving the True Intent of the Legislators.”
Sections 49 and 50 of the Marriages Act 1884-1985(CAP 127) spell out the need and methods for the publication of banns but she stated that recent advancements in technology and modernization call for a change.
Currently under the Marriages Act 1884-1985(CAP 127), there are three avenues for marriage under the ordinance but it’s only a marriage under the marriage officer’s certificate that requires the publication of banns.
As such the legal practitioner with over 15 years of experience in practice, argued that the “publication of banns should be made a requirement for all the three avenues of our ordinance marriage. They shouldn’t just be restricted to the marriage under the marriage registrar’s certificate.”
Language of Publication
Again Miss Cofie stated that per the law, the publication of the banns ought to be in both English and in vernacular but observed that most of the churches do it in only one depending on whether it’s an English or Twi Service.
DennisLaw/MarryRight Gh
