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NGO holds forum on
property rights of spouses
Wa, Nov. 17, Ghanadot/GNA - Mrs. Barbara Ayesu,
Coordinator of Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA)
Ghana, has said women would continue to be discriminated against
in the distribution of property when their spouses die if
effective laws were not put in place to address these anomalies.
She said women and children who suffered ejection and other
forms of persecution when the breadwinner of the family died
were often discriminated against when it came to the sharing of
properties.
Mrs. Ayesu was speaking at a two-day stakeholders' consultation
forum on the Property Rights of Spouses and the Intestate
Succession Bills on Monday at Wa.
The workshop was organised by LAWA-Ghana and African Women
Lawyers Association (AWLA) and sponsored by the German
Development Cooperation (GTZ).
She said the 1992 constitution of Ghana recognized the property
rights of spouses as a fundamental human right and has
therefore, placed the obligation on Parliament under Article 22
to enact legislation to regulate it.
With regard to the Intestate Succession law which was passed in
1985, Mrs. Ayesu said the law, after 23 years suffered some
difficulties in its implementation.
She said it had even become more apparent due to the increasing
importance of the nuclear family.
She said it was as a result of some of these anomalies that the
Attorney-General's Department prepared the two bills which had
already been approved by cabinet and would soon be laid before
Parliament after consultations with stakeholders.
Mrs Ayensu said the two bills would ensure that there was
fairness and certainty in determining matters that relate to the
property rights of spouses and clarity in the Law for effective
implementation.
Mrs. Cate Bob Milliar, the Upper West Regional Director of the
Department of Women, said the bill, when passed into law, would
help curb the suffering women go through in their marriages.
"I am happy to emphatically state that this bill would serve
both the interest of men and women because it would be applied
in the circumstances of death, divorce and cohabitation", she
said.
She said they were therefore, calling for inputs into the bill
from the stakeholders to enhance its credibility to enable
Parliament to perform its constitutional mandate of passing it
into a Law.
Mr. Duogu Yakubu, the Wa Municipal Chief Executives, thanked the
organizers and urged them to continue educating the women on
their fundamental human rights to enable them benefit from their
marriages.
GNA |
