Members of the the public were challenged to do their bit to prevent marriages of convenience when new measures to combat the practise were passed in the House of Assembly.

Government newcomer Ashfield DeVent said he had spoken to women who had been paid to marry foreigners and said quite often they had opted to take part in the illegal dealings to help finance their drug habits.

However, he said, frequently they did not receive all of the money they were promised.

And he said more people had to report suspicious marriages to the authorities to run the scourge of improper marriages out of Bermuda.

Mr. DeVent made the comments in Parliament on Friday as members on both sides of the House agreed the Marriage Amendment Bill 2002.

As a journalist for VSB, he said he had interviewed women some time ago who had been paid to marry foreigners, but said often the deal went awry.

He said the going rate then was between $4,000 and $5,000, and said while they were paid part of the cash beforehand, some never actually received the remainder.

“I rise to support and commend the Minister for a piece of legislation that I think everyone agrees is long overdue,” he said.

“This is a serious problem and I think we are heading in the right direction. I'm challenging the public to get involved to do their part , so we can cut these things off before they happen. It's a real deal. It's happening.”

The amendments mean that from now on a certificate for marriage will be issued by the Registrar for all marriages and that notice of all intended marriages must be published in local newspapers.

In the past, marriages could be celebrated under the authority of a certificate of marriage officer, but now, all weddings, whether religious or not, must go through the Registrar and be publicised to draw as much attention to them as possible.

Minister of Labour and Home Affairs Terry Lister introduced the amendment, and said: “There appears to be a growing number of foreign persons who are willing to marry Bermudians for the right to live and work in Bermuda or for illegal purposes, i.e. drug business,” said Mr. Lister.

“Very often, persons who wish to prevent either a family member or an acquaintance from engaging in what is believed to be a marriage of convenience oftentimes contact the staff of the Registry General and or the Department of Immigration concerning their objections to the intended marriage.

“In the majority of these cases, the intended marriages have come to their attention through the publication of the notices of marriage in the local newspapers.”

So, Mr. Lister said he hoped that by demanding that all marriages be publicised, more marriages of convenience would be brought to the fore, and so investigated.

But Shadow Transport Minister Trevor Moniz, who spoke in the absence of Shadow Labour Minister Patricial Gordon-Pamplin, said, while there was no objection to the amendment from his side, he believed the measures did not go far enough.

And he said he had wished Government had released some figures on how many suspicious marriages were carried out each year.

He cited recent violent outbursts between gangs of Jamaicans on the Island and Bermudians as possibly having a link to marriages of inconvenience and said the problem needed to be nipped in the bud.

“If this piece of legislation aims to cure a particular problem then our view is that the matter should go further than that,” he said.

“I think people would like to see the Minister address the problem to which the reform today is meant to be a part of solving. We would like the Minister to tell us how big a problem is it is and what he's going to do to solve it.

“We would like to know if this is part of a multi-pronged approach to solving drug gangs in this country?”

And maverick Government backbencher Dale Butler agreed with Mr. Moniz in that the new measures were not stringent enough.

He said: “If you get married overseas, is not that marriage recognised in this country. So really, publishing the banns in the newspaper is not going to tackle the issue. I am sorry but it's not.

“If you try to prevent it here, people will just go overseas. I would hope that the Minister would address this thorny question and look at it again in much more detail and look at consequences for the Bermudians and the person from overseas.”

He said he believed Government needed to get out the “big stick” in order to deter people from taking part in improper marriages.

But Mr. Lister said this was just the first step he hoped to take in relation to the issue.

“The publication of marriages notices in the newspapers will allow for greater public exposure of intended marriages and make it easier for concerned persons to register their objections with the Registry General of the Department of Immigration,” he added.

The amendment will eliminate the requirement for marriage officers to call banns of marriage in respect of members of their congregations. However, the new legislation will not prevent marriage officers from doing so, as a matter of courtesy to the couples, if they wish.

And the new law will also transfer the responsibility of carrying out due diligence as to the eligibility of the parties to intended marriages to the officers of the Registry General, who are apt to be more stringent in carrying out investigations.

Revered Wilbur Lowe, who officiates marriages, said he supported the move, but said many ministers still wished to publish banns and give their own marriage certificates.