Tema, Jan 6, GNA - The Tema Metropolitan Registry of Marriages and Divorces, recorded an increase in customary marriage dissolution in 2010. Mr Stephen Nortey, Tema Metropolitan Registrar of Marriages and Divorces, told the GNA that the Registry recorded 65 dissolutions in 2010 as aganist 44 it dissolved in 2009.

Mr Nortey said there was a decrease in registration of both Ordinance and Customary Marriages in 2010.

Whereas 3,051 marriages were registered in 2009, a total of 2,479 were recorded last year. A total of 216 Customary Marriages were registered in 2009, as compared to the 198 recorded in 2010. He explained that under the customary registration, a man could register many marriages as he wished, while under the ordinance, only one marriage could be registered.

He attributed the decrease in the registrations to the opening of Marriage and Divorce Offices in the Ashaiman and Ledzokuku-Krowor municipalities. Mr Nortey said communication problems and lack of understanding among spouses also accounted for the increase in the divorces. He said the divorce figure did not give the true picture of the divorce rate in the Metropolis because the figure excluded that of dissolution of ordinance marriages which is handled by the courts.