Cabinet approves Property Rights of Spouses Bill

Cabinet has passed the Property Rights of Spouses Bill and forwarded it to Parliament for consideration.

Mr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, a Deputy Minister for Information and Media Relations, announced this at the daily media briefings at the Flagstaff House, Kanda.

He said Cabinet looked at the various controversies in the bill, and Parliament would also iron out the 'rough edges' of the bill before consideration.

Mr Mohammed said clause three of Article 22 of the 1992 Constitution requires equal access to property acquired by the family either throughout their lives or sometimes after marriage.

The passage of the bill into law would, therefore, give legal entitlement to spouses to inherit property acquired during their marriage time.

Mr Mohammed said although the bill has so far not cleared the air on the type of entitlement and what kind of marriage that would qualify spouses for entitlement, the outcome would be favorable.

The Deputy Minister said the current situation where spouses, especially women, are denied property of the family in the event of the death of the husband, would no longer be acceptable if the bill is passed into law.

He said Cabinet had approved the bill on the migration of television stations from analogue to digital by the next two years.

Mr Mohammed said under the migration procedure, government would pay $95 million for it to be effected.

The change over, he added would enable all Ghanaians to watch more television channels.