Founders of the Marrify app, Dennis Adjei Dwormoh, says marriage is not a private record but a public record that the public ought to know, which is why the law does not allow people to marry in secret.
Speaking at the launch of the Marrify Innovative app, Mr. Dwormoh explained that Marrify is the first app in Ghana that seeks to consolidate marriage records, divorce records, marriage venues, and licensed marriage officers across the country onto one platform.
He disclosed that the team has spent years collecting data, noting that the first marriage ordinance in Ghana was passed in 1884, and they have gathered records on licensed marriage officers and licensed venues as far back as 1886 to 2026 – over 140 years of data.
According to him, Marrify has also started working with the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) and the courts to put marriage and divorce records on the app for people to be able to access and verify before committing to marriage.
He lamented the injustice caused to many Ghanaians as a result of lack of information on churches, venues and marriage records, where people commit their lives, invest resources and give birth to children, only to be told 20 years later or even after their partner is gone that their marriage is invalid.
Mr. Dwormoh said the current system where churches keep marriage data in silos and give the certificate only to the woman to keep has created loopholes, allowing someone who married in any unknown church to easily marry again in a another if no one raises an objection.
He noted that sometimes objections come too late after the marriage has been done and the injustice has already occurred, a problem that affects even pastors and prominent people in the country, which Marrify seeks to fix.
To solve the state’s record-keeping problem, he said the app has allowed people to self-report their marriages, and once the authenticity is verified with the RGD, it will be uploaded onto the national database built by Marrify for public verification.
By Prosper Kwaku Selassy Agbitor
About The Author
