Women advocates advised against rushing bill for enactment

Kumasi, March 14, GNA - Women advocates have been advised against agitations and demands for the swift passage of the Domestic Violence Bill into law since such a rush could undermine the good intentions of the bill.

Mr Opoku-Agyemang Prempeh, Executive Director of the Centre for Moral Education (CEMED), a non-governmental organisation with a mission to promote good morals among the youth, said instead of rushing, they should rather consider allowing ample time for inputs and critical study to be made on it before pushing for its passage.

Mr Prempeh gave the advice in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi on Saturday on the stand of CEMED on the domestic violence bill.

The bill and its contents were so dicey and delicate that there was the need for a variety of inputs and memoranda from key personalities like religious leaders, traditional rulers, marriage counsellors and legal practitioners to be studied and incorporated in it before agitating for its passage, he added.

Mr Prempeh, who is also the Managing Director of Lakayana Company, a construction and revenue generating and collection firm, also entreated Parliament never to yield to pressure from any quarter to rush into enacting he law until they were certain that the bill was properly framed up.

"Even though CEMED is very concerned about protection of women and wives and welcomes the bill, there is still the urgent need for it to be drafted in such a manner so as not to turn out to unnecessarily jeopardise the lives of wives and their husbands", he stressed. Mr Prempeh observed that some wives could capitalise on loopholes in the bill if not properly drafted to unnecessarily harass their husbands, saying, "This could result in broken homes and children becoming social misfits".

He said CEMED is also of the opinion that instead of girls being legally recognised as adults at the age of 18 with the right to marry, it should rather be pegged at 24 years.

He explained that at 18, girls were not physically, psychologically and emotionally matured enough to enter into any marriage and bear the responsibility that went with it.