Legal practitioner Joseph Ackah-Blay has explained that the Supreme Court has ruled that persons accused of having affairs with married spouses, commonly referred to as side chicks or side guys, cannot automatically be made parties to divorce proceedings unless they raise substantial legal issues connected to the case.
The clarification emerged in the case of Vida Yeboah vs. Dr Stephen Yeboah & Mercy Agyeiwaa, which was decided on April 29, 2026.
In a post on X on May 6, Mr Ackah-Blay said the ruling addresses a recurring issue in divorce litigation regarding whether an alleged lover must be joined to proceedings involving a married couple.
“The court answered: not always. Sometimes yes,” he wrote.
The case began in April 2019 when Vida Yeboah filed for divorce against her husband, Dr Stephen Yeboah, at the High Court in Agona Swedru.
In her petition, she accused her husband of adultery and identified Mercy Agyeiwaa as the woman allegedly involved in the relationship.
According to the suit, Dr Yeboah had relocated Ms Agyeiwaa from Kasoa to a flat near the couple’s matrimonial home at Gomoa Oguaakrom.
Ms Agyeiwaa later applied to join the case, insisting that she was not merely involved in an affair with Dr Yeboah but was his customary wife.
She claimed they had contracted a customary marriage on July 15, 2012, two years before Dr Yeboah’s ordinance marriage to Vida Yeboah in 2014.
Mr Ackah-Blay said Ms Agyeiwaa presented photographs from the customary marriage ceremony, identified witnesses, and argued that she had financially contributed to properties forming part of the divorce dispute.
The High Court initially granted her application to join the case, but the Court of Appeal later overturned the decision, stating that her participation would “murky the waters”.
The Supreme Court has now reversed the Court of Appeal’s ruling, restoring Ms Agyeiwaa as a party to the suit and directing the High Court to continue hearing the matter.
However, the apex court stressed that the decision should not be interpreted to mean that all persons accused of extramarital affairs can automatically become parties in divorce proceedings.
Quoting portions of the judgment, Mr Ackah-Blay said individuals “commonly referred to in Ghana as ‘side chicks’ or ‘side guys’” generally have no place as parties in divorce cases.
The court explained that under Section 12 of the Matrimonial Causes Act, 1971, the joinder of a third party in a divorce suit is discretionary because the law states that a person “may” be joined and not “shall” be joined.
According to the judges, Ms Agyeiwaa’s circumstances were exceptional because she raised two critical legal questions, namely whether there was an earlier customary marriage that could affect the validity of the ordinance marriage, and whether she had a legal interest in some of the disputed properties.
The court ruled that those issues made her participation necessary for the proper determination of the case.
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