No hotel, guest house or garden facility has been registered to celebrate marriages in the Volta Region capital of Ho, according to the Marriage Registry at the Ho Municipal Assembly.

Consequently, all marriages celebrated at those premises are illegal and “void ab initio”.

In recent times, hotels and gardens in Ho and other parts of the Region, have become preferred premises for the celebration of marriages, with some, going beyond 1600 hours in the afternoon, contrary to the Marriage Act.

Officer-in-charge of the Marriage Registry at the Ho Municipal Assembly, Ms. Ida Foli, has told the GNA that only churches are certified to host marriage ceremonies.

Nana Ama Akyiaa Prempeh, a Chief State Attorney at the Registrar General’s Department (RGD), at a sensitisation workshop on the Department’s online portal, described the situation as worrying and advised would-be couples to ensure that their marriages were officiated by licensed priests at the registered venues.

She said those done at unregistered venues could not be validated, unless the couples started the process afresh.

Nana Prempeh said hotels and gardens could host marriage ceremonies if registered to do so by the Assemblies, on behalf of the Registrar General.

She said the launch of the Department’s online portal was to address those challenges and improve service delivery to the citizenry.

Nana Prempeh said apart from marriage registry, all six business categories-sole proprietorship, subsidiary business names, companies limited by shares, companies limited by guarantee and external companies could be registered online.

She said customers could also conduct searches, book appointments for the administration of estates and file amendments and other documents online in the comfort of their homes online.

Nana Prempeh said the Department was also opening up regional offices for the issuance of special licenses and the easy registration of trademarks and textile designs.

Mrs. Doris Ameyaw, the Head of Information Technology, RGD, described the e-portal as user-friendly and urged customers to use it to reduce the cost of travelling to the offices of the Department.