Members of Parliament, former Members of Parliament, and Queen mothers among others are calling on Parliament to enact into Law the proposed Property Rights of Spouses Bill.
The event was organized by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs on Wednesday, 29 November under the theme: “REVISITING THE PROPERTY RIGHTS
OF SPOUSES BILL OF GHANA”
It was also aimed at craving the commitment of the leadership of Parliament to support the procedures of the bill when it’s re-laid.
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs(MOPA), Osei categorically stated that the passage of such an important bill will direct the distribution of spousal property among spouses going through divorce or separation.
According to the minister who doubles as majority leader, parliament is enjoined under Article 22(2) of the constitution to ensure that the rights of spouses to property are protected, the reason lawmakers must promise to fulfill the dictates of Article 22(2) to actualize the passage of the bill.
He went on to express worry over how the absence of such a law had made the courts and judicial activists go ahead to pass some judgment which had become guidelines for the distribution of property acquired during the subsistence of a marriage upon dissolution.
Former minority Chief Whip and Member of Parliament for Asawase, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, blamed the differences in cultures, ethnic, marriages, and religious backgrounds of the Ghanaian society as a major hurdle to the passage of the bill.
He, therefore, concurred with the urgent need for a second look at the bill to incorporate all the differences in society to facilitate the passage of the bill.
“We need to have a bill that will be able to, for example, regulate marriages because of the way we are intermarrying.
“But if you want to assume that we want to do it one size fits all, the bill will continue to have the kinds of challenges it is facing,” he urged
The President of the Queen Mothers Association in Ghana, Nana Otubea, expressed worry over how in certain jurisdictions in the country women were often “thrown out” of their marital homes when their husbands passed away.
She equally urged Parliament to expedite the passage of the Property Rights of Spouses Bill to protect the rights of women in marriages.
By: Mary Quartey
