Media sensitized on Property Rights of Spouses
The Africa Women Lawyers Association (AWLA) and LAWA-Ghana Alumnae Incoporated on Tuesday organized a workshop for selected Journalists on Property Rights of Spouses Bill.
The workshop was to sensitise the media as the fourth realm estate on the Property Rights of Spouses and for Journalist to use their medium to ensure the passage of the bill into law.
The workshop was funded by STAR-Ghana, a multi-donor pooled funding mechanism funded by Department for International Development, Danish International Developmnent Agency, European Union and United States Agency for International Development to increase the influence of civil society and Parliament in the governance of public goods and service delivery, with the ultimate goal of improving the accountability and responsiveness of Ghana’s government, traditional authorities and the private sector
The bill which has been laid in Parliament for the third term is to regulate the property rights of spouses in accordance with the article 22 of the 1992 Constitution, particularly clause (2) and (3).
The 1992 Constuituion imposes an obligation on Parliament under article 22 to enact legislation to regulate the property rights of spouses to fulfill the obligation of the supreme law that the bill is proposed in the best interest of spouses.
The bill before the Parliament of Ghana establishes rules and workable standards for the courts and spouses for the realisation of the provision of the constitution on spousal property rights.
Mrs Sheila Minkah-Premo, Chairperson LAWA-Ghana, said the focus of the bill was the property rights of spouses as define in the bill and that the bill was not intended to deal with the property rights between the parents and children.
She said the bills sought to ensure certainty in matters connected with the property of spouses and that proposals for the bill came from diverse sources including The Law Reforms Commission, civil society groups, traditional rulers, legal experts and faith based organizations.
Mrs Minkah-Premo noted that the passage of the bill would ensure fairness in determining matters that pertain to the property rights of spouses and that the constitutional provisions under article 22 (3) requires equal access by spouses to property jointly acquired during their marriage and fairness in the distribution of jointly acquired property when marriage is dissolved.
Source: GNA