Couples in Cameroon’s Northwest Hesitate on Mass Marriage Ceremonies

BAMENDA, CAMEROON – Approximately 200 guests crowded into the council hall of the Bamenda I subdivision of Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s Northwest region. The crowd was attending a wedding – but not just of one couple.

Guests and onlookers joined Simon Acho Ngwen, the subdivisional mayor, and Judy Abong, the regional delegate of the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, as the two officials legalized the unions of nine couples living in traditional unions.

During the two-hour ceremony, couples answered “present” during a roll call, took vows, exchanged wedding rings and signed their new marriage certificates.

Among them were John Soh, 57, and Anna Zee, 46. They had lived together as husband and wife for eight years but had never obtained a marriage certificate.

“I married my wife traditionally before we started living together,” Soh says. “I fulfilled all the traditional rites required to marry a woman. I paid her bride price.”

A friend advised Soh to legalize his union after a period of family struggle in 2011. Although Soh declined to share specific details, problems in his family demonstrated to him the importance of a marriage certificate, he says.

But the high cost of a wedding made Soh, a carpenter, think that only the rich could afford to obtain marriage certificates, he says.

Earlier this year, he then learned that the Northwest regional delegation of the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family organized inexpensive mass marriage ceremonies. He and Zee visited the delegation’s office to learn more.

Representatives informed them that the benefits of legalizing their marriage in a mass ceremony outweighed the benefits of waiting to save for an extravagant wedding feast. They would need to pay only 5,000 Central African francs ($10) for a marriage certificate and 200 francs (40 cents) for copies of various documents.

“I couldn’t believe that I will marry my wife without throwing a party,” Soh says. “I finally settled to sign my marriage without throwing a party, thanks to the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment.”

A marriage certificate offers critical legal protections to couples living in informal unions. But the reception to the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family’s mass marriage campaign in the Northwest region has been lukewarm, and the regional delegation falls short of its target every year. Delegation representatives say they are increasing efforts to legalize couples’ unions in mass ceremonies.

The ministry initiated the mass marriage campaign in 2006, Abong says. It aimed to combat violence against women, as women in abusive relationships faced easier legal battles when they had marriage certificates.

The ministry was also powerless to assist widows who said that their late partners’ families had seized their properties or had denied them their inheritances, she says. Because many of these women were not legally married, they were not eligible for legal protections.

The ministry’s goal is to legalize 5,000 unions in mass marriage ceremonies each year, Abong says. Each of Cameroon’s 10 regions should legalize 500 marriages annually.

But the regional delegation in the Northwest has never met its target. The delegation legalized just more than 250 marriages last year and fewer than 75 marriages during the first half of 2013, she says.

Couples benefit from the legal status that the mass marriage campaign attains them, says Alice Ndofor, a Christian marriage counselor in Bamenda.

“When couples live in free unions,” she says, “they are taking a big risk, especially in our Cameroonian community where the voice of the extended family member is very strong. If, for example, a husband dies ­– we are not praying for that, but if it happens – a wife without a marriage certificate risks losing property to the extended family because the law cannot step in fully to arrest the situation.”

Marriage certificates give couples security and respect, she says. Couples should marry before they begin cohabiting rather than wait for disaster to prompt them into marriage.

“A marriage without a marriage certificate is nonexistent in the face of the law,” she says. “Even if you live as a traditionally married couple for 100 years, you are still in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. Watch out.”

Bernard Kukwa, 44, and Josette Azwe, 32, lived in a traditional marriage for 12 years before they legalized their union in a mass ceremony in Bamenda in May 2013.

The couple knew their marriage was unofficial but believed that traditional law protected them, Azwe says. They had never legalized their marriage because of the cost of hosting a wedding.

But when Kukwa’s employers required a marriage certificate to grant him a family allowance, the couple considered their options. Kukwa’s sister, who had wed her husband in a mass ceremony in 2011, encouraged them to take advantage of the campaign.

“My husband needed a marriage certificate to benefit from some allowances at his workplace,” Azwe says. “My sister-in-law helped to facilitate this process by making us understand that we can get one through Women’s Empowerment with just little money.”

The couple now looks forward to receiving a family allowance, which they have done without for many years, Azwe says.

Many couples believe that legalizing their marriages requires hosting large and expensive weddings, Abong says. But in reality, marriage requires only the consent of the bride and groom and the presence of four witnesses.

But many constituents in the Northwest region are slow to warm to the mass marriage project, Abong says.

“Every year, the ministry expects each region to celebrate 500 marriages,” she says. “In the Northwest region, we have never met our target.”

The entire regional delegation has legalized only 74 marriages this year, she says. The delegation’s office in Bamenda has legalized just nine.

The shortfall may be due to constituents’ strong attachment to tradition, Abong says. They believe that traditional marriage customs are equal to or more important than legal marriage requirements.

A prominent businessman and landowner, who declined to be named for fear of familial repercussions, says he disapproves of the mass marriage project. He has lived in a traditional marriage for 13 years.

“Lately, my wife has been pressurizing me to legalize our marriage,” he says with a laugh. “I am not ready for it. If she is not satisfied with our traditional marriage, then she should decide what next to do because I am not ready for a legal marriage – not at all.”

His uncle suffered after he legalized his marriage and his wife began to show her dark side, he says. She stayed out late, refused to cook for him and abused him in public. His uncle eventually filed for divorce and had to forfeit property to his ex-wife.

This has discouraged the businessman from considering legalizing his traditional marriage. He says he does not trust women’s motives.

“I have married my wife traditionally,” he says, shaking his head. “I think that is good enough for me. I cannot take the risk of legalizing my marriage, knowing fully well who women are.”

The regional delegation has made a large effort to legalize marriages in the Northwest region, Abong says. It uses radio broadcasts and posters to make the population aware of the campaign and also hosts sensitization seminars and workshops.

The delegation plans to intensify its outreach to couples in 2014. Meanwhile, couples who participate in the ceremonies should spread the word to friends and family living in traditional marriages, Abong says.

Through these efforts, the delegation hopes to meet its goal of securing legal protection for men and women in free unions, she says. Couples should know that they do not need to buy wedding dresses or to throw extravagant parties to legalize their marriages.