PHOTOS From Gifty Anti & Nana Ansah Kwao’s Wedding…

TV Presenter-Gifty Anti and Nana Ansah Kwao of Joy Fm finally got married today at Aburi in Eastern Region—and the ceremony was colorful with tradition well represented.

Gifty Anti who is 45 years old’s marriage has become the talk of Ghana—with some saying, her antics leading to the marriage is a backtrack on her widely championed belief that marriage should not be ultimate in a woman’s life.

GhanaCelebrities.Com’s resident writer-Edith Osei Bonsu in an excellent piece published a few hours ago argued that: Though her [Gifty Anti] life and work are obvious testimony that a woman can even break the glass ceiling without a husband pushing her, her recent antics which is a clear backtracking of everything I admired about her in relation to marriage is pathetic and scary.

I am not saying she should not have gotten married, because that is not the point of the argument—being married does not mean you cannot still hold the belief that women are valuable independent of men.

I am a married woman and having married for over 6 years, I believe I have a lot of experience in this area—far more than Gifty Anti who is about to join the boat. And yet, I share in the conception that marriage does not define a woman or it’s not the deal breaker for women.

But Gifty Anti’s splash of her marriage details, photos and countless announcements in the media come off as a contradictory exhibit to this importantly held belief.

She being 45 does not prevent her from getting married or to celebrate her soon to be marriage. But the manner in which it has become a media subject and somewhat uniquely important not only to journalists but also to her as though this is everything she has been waiting for—the defining moment is scary.

This sort of towering attachment of importance to marriage and the presentation of it as though it is more important than everything else is what I thought she stood and advocated against. Yet, I see her doing the same.”

Earlier in the week, GhanaCelebrities.Com’s Contributing writer-Akosua Abebrese also looked at Gifty Anti’s marriage but from a different angle, headlined “Gifty Anti…Adorable & Empowering But Her ‘Marriage Misfortune’ is Not A Crown for Women to Wear.”

She argued that: You must know nothing about the importance of marriage in Africa and the societal structure of Ghana to believe Gifty Anti was genuinely not worried in anyway about the non-forthcoming of marriage while her age was on a speed dial, running like Tigo credit when you call China.

I believe she was worried though she once said she was not in a hurry to get married. At 45, if she was not in a hurry to get married, how come within few months after this comment, she is getting married? If that is not HURRY, what else is then?

I think Gifty should be honest about her situation, the fears that came with it and help others find solace in what has finally found her—but she seems to brush it off, saying, marriage has never been a big deal for her.

Don’t get me wrong, I adore Gifty Anti and I am happy that finally she is going to have a man she can look in the faces of all the haters and proudly say, he is MINE. Though it should not be so, husbands are the pride of most African woman—and our culture places huge significance on this.

But my problem lies in the conversation developing on the back of Gifty Anti’s situation—with women saying, marriage does not really matter and even at 45 you can still get married. So a woman should not work towards getting married at a reasonable age. This is where they cite Gifty Anti…

Look, that is plain BS out there—Gifty Anti’s case should be the exception and it should not to be celebrated. Her misfortune should be regarded as so and we should be happy that things have turned around for her but we should not term this a heroic enterprise by saying, women shouldn’t worry when the marriage is taking donkey years to show its head.

That’s some lame deduction out there; because a woman has a biological clock and with procreation being a primary purpose of marriage, there is time boundary for every woman to seek this or to make it happen.

I know God is the one who gives children but He is also the one who instituted the biological clock—at 45 and over, it is not only likely impossible to have children but even if it happens, there is a high possibility of health complications.

So as much as we want to celebrate Gifty Anti for her excellence and women empowerment, we should be bold and wise enough to jilt the aspect of her life which is not worth emulating or wishing for.

Surely, I will be the last woman to advocate for desperation and adopting all means necessary to get married. However, the truth stands–which is, marriage is an important pillar in our society and a certain age range remains the reasonable time to get it done.

If you are between 25-37, that’s the time to have this done—anything above 37 is an exception which we should not condemn but we should not also in anyway accept that as a piece worth being taught to those tailing us.

We can sincerely look at the achievements of Gifty Anti and come to realize that marriage is not the defining factor in a woman’s life but I bet she wishes this marriage came way earlier—and not now that she is 45 years old.”

You can real full versions of Akosua Abebrese’s article Here & that of Edith Osei Bonsu from Here

Now, flip to the next pages for photos from Gifty Anti’s wedding ceremony…