The debt of a woman married under the Customary Law Marriage is the responsibility of her husband, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana School of Law, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, has said.
He said contrary to the popular perception that Customary Law Marriage did not protect women, it offered better protection to women compared to Ordinance Marriage.
Dr Srem-Sai who was speaking at the maiden Marriage Governance Conference in Accra last Tuesday, explained that while it was mandatory for men to provide maintenance and accommodation to their wives under Customary Law Marriage, it was not mandatory under Ordinance Marriage.
Even in instances when the man passed, his family, he said, was responsible for the upkeep of the woman.
He said the English Law or Common law which Ordinance Marriages depended on, did not give wives such privileges.
“Now, one of the incidents of marriage under customary law is that the husband is responsible to provide maintenance and accommodation for the wife, and after his death that responsibility devolves upon his family.
Consequently, the head of the family is bound to provide maintenance for the widow of a deceased member of the family during the period of the funeral.” he said , making reference to the Ollennu, Yaotey v Quaye (1961) case.
Dr Srem-Sai who is also a legal counsel at Praetorium Solicitors, said currently, the Customary Law marriages for Akans, Ewes and other ethnic groups offered better protection to women than Ordinance marriage.
He advised against referring to customary marriage as “engagement” as it was a legally accepted form of marriage.
Credit: Graphic Online
