NGO urges Parliament to pass spouses bills
A non-governmental organisation on Tuesday urged Parliament to facilitate the passage of the Property Rights of Spouses Bill.
LAWA Ghana Alumnae Incorporated (LAWA-Ghana) also expressed the need for the country to pass the Intestate Succession Bill to avoid the unnecessary delay in settling such issues in the law courts.
Mrs Sheila Minka-Premo, Chair, LAWA-Ghana Executive Committee, who addressed a press conference in Accra, said the two bills were important documents which should not be allowed to gather dust on the shelves.
The bills, she said, sought to ensure certainty in matters connected with the property rights of spouses, fairness in determining matters that pertained to the property rights of spouses and also to clarify the law for effective implementation.
She said the bills were in fulfilment of Article 22 of the 1992 Constitution, which called on Parliament to enact legislation to ensure that spouses were not deprived of a reasonable provision of the estate of a spouse whether or not the spouse died having made a will.
Mrs Minka-Premo said property rights of spouses in Ghana had been problematic for a very long time because the country had a plural legal system and the laws on marriage were regulated by the customary law, Islamic law and by statute.
“Under each of these regimes, females are usually at the losing end when it comes to the sharing of properties acquired at the end of a marriage or when a spouse dies,” she said.
She said the two bills when passed into law would address the problem and ensure equity in jointly acquired properties.
She therefore urged Parliament to as a matter of urgency pass the bills by the first quarter of 2011.
LAWA-Ghana, AWLA, Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department and other stakeholders have been at the forefront advocating the early passage of the two bills into law.
The advocacy took them to the 10 regions to sensitise the public on the two bills.
Ms Estelle Appiah, Director of Legislative Drafting at the Attorney-General’s Department of Ministry of Justice, said the Attorney-General was committed to the passage of the bills and soliciting funds for awareness creation and implementation.
Mr Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi, Member of Parliament for Asante Akim North and Hajia Hawawu Boya Gariba, Deputy Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs called on the media to assist in educating the public on the bills.
Source: GNA