A Managing Partner of Law Plus Attorneys, Dennis Adjei Dwomoh has said that the country has no system to register Mohammedan marriages.
According to him, this is a major concern.
He added that Islamic priests needed to administer such marriages have also not been registered to do so legally.
Mr Dwomoh’s assertion comes in the wake of research undertaken by DennisLaw, a law firm, that found that there are no lawful Islamic marriages in Ghana. This is because since the law was passed in the colonial era, the Ministry of Interior has not put in place a regime to license Mohammedan Priests, and the MMDAs have no system for registering these marriages.
In recent times, the Head of Marriages at the Registrar General’s Department has also complained that 80% of marriages ordained in the Islamic religion in Ghana are not valid.
This disclosure is reported to have been made at a round table discussion on the theme “Working together for a better Society.” organized by civil society organisation, Telling Ghana.
According to him, the absence of the system makes it difficult for Islamic marriages to be registered and recognised by law.
He said the Ministry of Interior has not put in place a regime to license Mohammedan priests, adding that the MMDAs have no system for registering these marriages.
“ … If you look at Article 35 of the Constitution there is an obligation on the part of the state to give all Ghanaians access to public services and it includes registration of marriages. Now, our research will show that there is no system of even registration of marriages,” he said in an interview on JoyNews’ The Law on Sunday.
On the same show, the Managing Partner at Hay and Partners @ Law, Hanifa Adjoa Yahaya has pointed out some gaps in the law that governs Mohammedan marriages.
She noted that Islamic marriages are supposed to be registered a week after the day of celebration as stipulated by law.
According to her, if this is not done the marriage is rendered invalid.
“If you do the Islamic marriage, perhaps in the eyes of Allah your marriage is valid, but in the eyes of the laws of Ghana, if you don’t register within one week, your marriage is not valid,” the Lawyer stressed.