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The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs (MOPA), Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has urged Parliament to enact into law the proposed Property Rights of Spouses Bill.

He said the passage of the bill was critical as it would direct the distribution of spousal property among spouses going through a divorce or separation.

The minister, who is also the Majority Leader, reminded the House that the Article 22(2) of the Constitution enjoined Parliament to ensure that spousal rights to property were protected, a reason lawmakers must promise to fulfil the dictates of article 22(2) to actualise the passage of the bill “as soon as practicable”.

“It appears the blame for non-passage of the Property Rights of Spouses Bill has been rightly laid on the doorstep of Parliament because the bill has been laid twice, referred to the committee and allowed to lapse,” he said.

Article 229(1) states that “A spouse shall not be deprived of a reasonable provision out of the estate of a spouse whether or not the spouse died having made a will.

 And 22(2) says “Parliament shall, as soon as practicable, after the coming into force of this Constitution, enact legislation regulating the property rights of spouses”.

Equity must prevail
At an engagement with the core leadership of Parliament last Friday, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu expressed worry about how in the absence of such a law, the courts and judicial activists had gone ahead to pass some judgements which had become guidelines for the distribution of property acquired during the subsistence of a marriage upon dissolution.

“The current measures in use by the courts are only focused on parties in monogamous marriages, leaving out those in the polygamous setting. In all this, there is no certainty and as such the law is needed to ensure that equity prevails,” he said.

 
The event, which was themed: “Revisiting the Property Rights of Spouses Bill of Ghana”, was aimed at craving the commitment of the leadership of Parliament to support the processes when the bill was re-laid, hopefully, at the next session.

It drew the leadership of Parliament and the members of the Queen Mothers Association in Ghana to discuss the challenges hampering the passage and to strengthen institutional collaborations for the passage of the bill. It was organised by MOPA.

Fully-fledged bill needed
The Majority Leader said it had been 30 years since the 1992 Constitution came into effect it took 16 years to present the first draft of the Property Rights of Spouses Bill to Parliament and another seven years to consider the bill.

Besides, he said 8,366,466 Ghanaians were married per the 2021 Housing and Population Census and over 950,000 marriages in Ghana were currently divorced or the couples were separated.  

He gave the breakdown as 553,065 marriages dissolved while 405,090 had separated, saying that “these are just the official figures”.

“Out of the almost 8.4 million married Ghanaians, 6,748,622 of them have not registered their marriages, with only 1,617,844 registered,” he said.

Ordinarily, he said the passage of the of the Land Act 2020 should be celebrated by supporters of the bill for the commendable depth of the provisions on the Spousal Rights to Property.

However, he said it was simply not enough and could not replace the urgent need for a fully-fledged Property Rights of Spouses Law.

“My study of the two draft bills that were presented to Parliament in 2009 and 2013, but failed to pass, shows that they contained germane and beneficial provisions,” he said.

Consider diversity
The National Democratic Congress MP 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, drummed home 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 advised.

Expedite bill’s passage  
The President of the Queen Mothers Association in Ghana, Nana Otubea, expressed worry about how in certain jurisdictions in the country women were often “thrown out” of their marital homes when their husbands passed away.

She, therefore, urged Parliament to expedite the passage of the Property Rights of Spouses Bill to protect the rights of women in marriages. 
Pull quote

“It appears the blame for the non-passage of the Property Rights of Spouses Bill has been rightly laid on the doorstep of Parliament because the bill has been laid twice, referred to the committee and allowed to lapse.”