Nana Akosua Frimpomaa Sarpong Kumankuma, Queen Mother of Dormaa Traditional area and a former vice presidential aspirant of the Convention People�s Party (CPP) has disagreed with the proposition that the payment of bride prices should be abolished.
According to her, it is part of our rich Ghanaian culture and should rather be encouraged.
Addressing a symposium organized by Zonta International, a non-governmental organization, Mrs. Adwoa Kwateng Kluvitse, Country Director of Action Aid, indicated that the payment of bride price undermined the rights and freedoms of women in the society and so should be abolished.
She explained that, a number of men considered bride price as payment for the women and thus, maltreat them anyhow to their satisfaction in marriage.
However, speaking in an interview on Peace FMs Midday news bulletin on Monday, she indicated that the payment of bride price cannot be abolished but can be modified.
�The payment of bride price has been part of our customs for a very long time and I don�t think it can be changed. It can be improved but not scraped off completely. If one calls for the abolishing of bride price then are they calling for the cancellation of marriages? I disagree with them completely.
She intimated that the payment of bride prices does not make men beat up their wives but on the contrary, it rather makes them value the women because they are �jewels from a home�.
�The bride price serves as a token that the man went for the woman from a home. It even shows respect to the family members...I don�t even think any constitution or laws can abolish it. If there will be anything of that sort, it will be from the traditional rulers and being part of them, I don�t see that happening...� she added.
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