There is a growing perception among the Ghanaian society that most of
the high-rated gospel musicians’ marriages fail or are fraught with
problems.



Over the last 10 years, an interesting development emerged, when a
number of accomplished gospel sonsgtresses tied the nuptial knot with
some pastors.



However, concerns have been raised lately about the rate at which most
of these marriages, which were contracted on the foundation of the
Scriptures, are crumbling in rapid succession.



Over the last six years, at least five of such marriages have gone
through turbulent times, eventually falling apart, with husband and
wife going their separate ways.



Some of the stars have reverted to their maiden names, or re-married and taken the names of their new partners.

Some enquiries made by The Mirror revealed that most of the men who
married these gospel stars lacked confidence and always felt threatened
because of the growing popularity of their spouses.



One of the affected musicians confided in The Mirror that, “My husband
is very jealous. He feels insecure. I kept assuring and reassuring him
that he had nothing to fear, and that I am all for him, but it appears
the more I kept on assuring him of my loyalty, the more threatened he
felt.”



According to the musician, “this strange attitude of my former husband
persisted and he started assaulting me left and right. Worse of all, he
embarrasses me in the presence of friends and relatives.”



She explained that at a point, she realised she could no longer
accommodate the mental torture and humiliation, and so they had to go
their separate ways.



Another musician told this reporter that during the initial stages of
her marriage with her former husband, she thought she was married to a
saint. “ He was caring and loving. However, along the line, I realised
that he had a contrary spirit. Whenever I start praying he gets
annoyed. He easily gets infuriated and beats me at the slightest
opportunity.”



She added that her case was one of great humiliation compared to what
others had gone through. “My former husband beats me to the extent that
he drags me out of our home onto the streets and assaults me in the
full glare of our neighbours. At a point, I had to seek refuge at the
police station.”



According to the lady, the case finally ended in court and he was
restrained from interfering in my life. She said for the period that
the case dragged on in court, they lived separately (not as a man and
wife) in the same house.



Even under that condition, the lady claimed she always had to have some
friends and relatives around her, because her former husband could
pounce on her anytime he came home and saw her alone.

The most recent of these divorce cases is the one involving Esther Smith and her husband, Rev. Bonsu.

According to Esther’s father, Mr Anthony Smith, as reported in the
Graphic Showbiz of May 29, 2008, even though he did not bless his
daughter’s marriage with the “so-called” man of God, his daughter was
very engrossed in the relationship from the beginning.

Mr Smith said although Rev. Bonsu said he was a pastor, there were
times that he could smell alcohol in his breath. “There were some guys
who also told me he was their drinking mate. I told Esther about this,
but she turned deaf ears to me.”

“I had to part ways with my daughter on that score and for the past
four years we have not been on very good terms. I tried as much as I
could not to let the public know about this problem until now,” he said.



Mr Smith said even though he had been informed that Esther was having
problems with her marriage and that her husband was a wife beater, he
tried as much as he could not to meddle in the affairs.



He said at one point, he nearly decided to interfere by bringing in the
police, but upon a second thought, he stopped, because he was not sure
if he was going to get Esther’s support.



“It is only recently that Esther phoned to tell me that her husband had
been molesting her and she wanted to call it quits. She told me she had
all the time wanted to tell me about her problems, but she didn’t know
how to go about it because of the circumstances surrounding the
marriage.



“When Esther gave birth in March this year, in Germany, she called me
and said she had had some complications as a result of beatings she
received from her husband, and the doctors said they needed to operate
on the baby,” he said.



Mr Smith said his daughter has since apologised to him, explaining that
she now realised that she was under the spell of the husband who tried
to create confusion between her and the father.



“I am happy the marriage has been broken now,” he said.



Story by Vance Azu