Religious organisations have been admonished to allow professional counsellors and law enforcement agencies to handle cases of Gender-Based Violence in marriages. 

This is  to reduce the level of emotions attached to such issues by unprofessionals that could aggravate the situation and in the end do more harm than good to both the perpetrators and victims.

In an interview with The Spectator on Wednesday, an Associate Pastor of the Salvation Prayer Missions World Wide Ghana, at Lapaz, in Accra, Lady Rev Salome Afua Owusu Afriyie said sometimes therapy, anger management, legal actions and activities that would lead to psychological transformation were necessary to help address such worrisome issues in marriage. 

She observed that some religious bodies may not have the capacity to properly counsel the couple and  resort to measures such as asking the victims to pray for their perpetrators to have a change of heart which might not be appropriate. 

She said it was not misplaced to suggest separation if the situation was becoming worse because this gave both spouses the opportunity to step aside from each other to see whether the marriage could work again or “forever remain broken”.

The Associate Pastor said where it was needful to resort to necessary measures to keep the abuser away, for example a restraining order, this should be done by the use of the law court or other legal institutions of state. 

She said where the situation became unbearable, the victims must be given the freehand to walk away from their abusive marriage and begin a new life.

“Let us also get professionals to teach and raise awareness to help prevent such issues in our various organisations” she stated.

Lady Rev Afriyie said that curbing Gender-Based Violence in marriages must be a shared responsibility. 

She said it was important that families played a watch role in ensuring that their members were safe after marriage but should not take any changes they observed in them for granted. 

She said “It is not easy to tell others that you are being abused so when people muster courage to say they are going through such a challenge, families must act swiftly  because delays had led to the loss of lives in some homes”. 

The Associate Pastor again advised persons who were yet to get married to look out for signs of abuse and should not take them for granted when they were identified.  

She said signs such as “insecurity, a possessive partner or one who looks or talks down on you whether in private or public should be seen as a red flag and be treated with all the seriousness possible or such relationships should be brought to an end”.

From Dzifa Tetteh Tay, Tema.