Passage of Spousal Rights Bill should engage attention of all — Majority Leader

The Majority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has stated that the passage of the Spousal Rights Bill should urgently engage the attention of Parliament and Ghanaians since the Bill has been pending before Parliament for the past 28 years.

He said since the proposal of the Bill, very little had been done to promote the rights of spouses to the properties of their deceased partners.

Consequently, he said today, many spouses, especially widows, were often left “unfended” in many communities across the country.

“Mr Speaker, these women are left to rot. It has taken 28 years and we expect people who are gender-sensitive, including men and women, to really focus on this,” he said.

Constitutional imperative

Contributing to a statement commemorating the 2020 International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration in Parliament on Monday, the Majority Leader said, “Today, nobody is talking about spousal rights and yet we know that on a daily basis, women are being pushed to the periphery and to the margins of survival and what are we doing as a country about that.

“It looks like it is fashionable for everybody to be talking about Affirmative Action but spousal rights is a direct constitutional imperative. And I believe that that should be the first port of call and after we have attained that, we can migrate to Affirmative Action,” he stated.

The majority leader’s concern came on the heels of a statement by the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mrs Cynthia Morrison, to commemorate IWD.

We must do the needful

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said Article 22 (2) of the Constitution, which touched on property rights of spouses, provided that Parliament shall as soon as practicable, after the coming into force of the Constitution, enact legislation regulating property rights of spouses.

He said even though the Article imposed a burden on Parliament, much had not been done and today, everybody was talking about Affirmative Action to promote female equity and equality, overlooking Article 22 which imposed direct obligation for the promotion of spousal rights.

He said while not downplaying the importance of the Affirmative Action, he believed what was happening to spouses with transitioned partners in communities should remain the focus of all Ghanaians.

“In all sincerity, our attention should focus on spousal rights and I believe 28 years is enough for us to focus and do what is needful,” he stated.

He urged Ghanaians, especially advocates of women’s rights, to use the occasion of the IWD to condemn gender-based violence and commit to working with partner organisations to protect women through legislation, scrutiny and oversight.

Gender-friendly budget

“Mr Speaker, again we should also intensify awareness. How much gender-friendly is our own budget when we come to scrutinising our budget?

“You seldom hear, in analysing our budget, what members in critiquing the budget bring to the fore about gender perspective that should be reflected in our budget,” he said.

The MP for Suame said Parliament must provide the means to build the capacity of women elected to Parliament to be more effective in their roles, improve the awareness and encourage all male and female parliamentarians to include a gender perspective in all aspects of their roles. 

He told the House that some African countries allowed their Presidents to appoint a special women constituency to Parliament, and wondered if Ghanaians would accept such practice, especially when it was not part of the Constitution to increase women’s representation in the legislative body.