You may read our Part 1 of the types on Ghanaian Marriages by clicking this link . In this Article, we explore the Customary Marriage.   Customary marriage is the commonest marriage in Ghana because, it is the traditional type of marriage known to the indigens of Ghana and secondly the incidence of this type of marriage by its nature, happens almost immediately upon, the failure to achieve a valid Islamic marriage or a valid Ordinance marriage. Note that, how customary marriage happens differ from one ethnic group to the other. However, there is a broadly accepted legal framework to affirm if there has been a customary marriage or not.   Definition: A union of the man’s family and the woman’s family. It imposes rights and duties upon the two families. The woman’s family gains the right to perform certain rites in certain eventualities and the man’s family also gains the right to perform certain rites in certain eventualities . Justice Ollenu in Yaotey Vrs. Q...

Ghana recently passed a plea bargain law. This was actually an amendment to the criminal and other offences procedure act in order to allow for plea bargain to happen during trials. This Article seeks to shed some light on the relevant portions of this law and what it means to the ordinary citizen.   First of all, what is a Plea Bargain? This can be explained as a procedure that allows the state (prosecutor) to negotiate with an accused person who is willing to admit guilt so that a lesser punishment would be given to him instead of the full punishment. It can sometimes lead to the accused walking away free. In other words, this law is about “ how to commit a crime and walk home free ”. The term “walking home free” here must be used advisedly. The most critical thing here is negotiation. One advantage is that it helps us reduce the number of persons who are sent to prison for offences that could have been resolved.   It also affords an opportunity for the offender to comp...

  The Law in Ghana recognizes three types of marriages. These are the Mohammedans Marriage , the Customary Marriage and the Ordinance marriage . Each of these three types of marriages have their own characteristics and features. They all create certain rights and obligations within the marriage and they also have their own unique legal procedures to follow in order to make them valid.   In order to make this reader friendly, the three types of marriages shall be explained in three separate write ups. Feel free to subscribe or follow this blog so that you get notified as soon as the next article is uploaded.   Let me warn that this article does not pretend to give all the features, rights, responsibilities and procedures on all these kinds of marriage as same cannot be contained and still make it reader friendly for the general public. You are however assured that this article will contain key general understanding of the legal status of marriages in Ghana. ...

  Proposed Tax Measures from the 2023 Budget Statement and responses from Dr. Ali-Nakyea   The finance minister of the Republic of Ghana presented the budget statement to parliament on the 24/11/2023.   Below is the list of tax measures in the fiscal policy for 2023.   1. Introduction of withholding taxes on winnings from betting   Response: A good revenue mobilisation measure. Requires monitoring to ensure compliance.   2. Reintroduction of road tolls .   Response: Good, as the tolls should not have been abolished in the first instance. Automation will help in boosting revenue mobilization.   3. 2.5 % increase in VAT to 15% (with the decoupled system in place, the effective rate will be 21.9%)   Response: This is not a good policy as it will lead to increased costs and ultimately increasing inflation as prices of goods and services may be adjusted accordingly by taxpayers.   The best way would have b...

    Just recently, it was reported in the media that prosecution has closed its case against the 14 accused persons in the case of Major Mahama who was brutally murdered by a mob on May 29th 2017. This has sparked interest in a long-standing topic on why cases delay so much in our courts. We are in 2022. It’s been 5 years since this matter started and I dare say the case has traveled only 50% of its potential life span in the court. (could be more or less) The wheels of justice they, say grind slowly, but it grinds even slower in Ghana. Justice delayed is also said to be justice denied. This write up is meant to highlight some of the things that causes delays in the writer’s opinion and to offer suggestions on what could be done to reduce these delays. The writer being a legal practitioner, some of these delays affects his work. He therefore believes, that it is in the interest of us all to understand some basics about these delay phenomena in order to help us all have...