Government to increase maternity leave to 14 weeks – Minister

Government has announced that it intends to extend the current maternity leave to enable nursing mothers stay home a little longer.

Currently, the constitution allows women to stay home for only 12 weeks after delivery.

Speaking at an event to commemorate the International Women’s Day, the Deputy Employment and Labour Relations Minister, Bright Wireku-Brobbey, said his outfit has started drafting the Maternity Protection Bill to put before parliament to provide an additional two weeks to enable women stay home to cater for their babies.

Though civil society groups have advocated for at least six months stay home for nursing mothers, Mr Wireku-Brobbey said this is an initial stage and believes there is more room for improvement.

“It is Maternity Protection Bill and per ILO Convention 103 which Ghana is a signatory to…that convention stipulates a minimum of 14 weeks. So if you look at the way we have three months it means we are behind that convention which was passed in 2000,” he said.

He continued that per the Ghanaian Labour Act “we have 12 weeks. But then we are advocating that in the new Bill which we are seeking to produce we will go to 14 weeks to begin with.”

The Bill, he said, is the result of a tripartite consultation between the Organised Labour, the government and Employers Association.

This is what we have put forward for it to become laws in the nearest future when it passed…,” he reiterated.