Cameroon Offers Legal Documentation for Marriages

VOICE OF AMERICA

Cameroon has been organizing collective marriages to formally unite couples, including some who have been together for 50 years without legal documentation. The change will protect the rights and property of women when their husbands die.

Ninety percent of Cameroonians do not have legal marriage contracts. When a man dies, family members sometimes seize the couple’s joint property because the woman has no legal document to back her.

Among those who got marriage certificates from Yaoundé City Council was Theordore Mehamere, 85. He still vividly remembers how he met his now 77-year-old wife, Mino Colette. “I was head of an agriculture control unit, so I could travel to many villages,” he said. “That is when I saw her, a young girl back then. I will not leave her.”

Colette had wished to get married one day. So when the government of Cameroon announced its mass wedding program, she subscribed to it. To her, this day was a dream come true. “I feel so happy getting married to my husband, Theordore Mehamere,” she said. “Even though he is old, I do love him. By the way, I am also old and have finally gotten married. I thank God.”

Marie Theres Abena Ondoua, Cameroon’s minister of women’s empowerment and the family, said legalizing such marriages will bring stability to the home and the society. “It is an example for young couples who are not even thinking of getting married,” she said.