Hot SourceFormer Attorney-General and Council of State member, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, has launched a scathing attack on Ghana’s Parliament, accusing it of betraying the constitutional promise of equality by failing to pass legislation on spousal property rights more than three decades after it was mandated.
Speaking as chairperson of the 2025 Marriage Governance Conference in Accra, Mould-Iddrisu reminded lawmakers that Article 22 of the 1992 Constitution required Parliament to enact legislation on the property rights of spouses “as soon as practicable” after the Constitution came into force. Yet, she said, 32 years have passed with nothing to show.
“How do we, as a people, look on unconcerned when ‘as soon as practicable’ turns into 32 years… and counting?” she demanded, describing the delay as “an affront to the values of democracy and good governance.”
Mould-Iddrisu recalled how, as Attorney-General in 2010, she introduced the Property Rights of Spouses Bill, which was designed to regulate the distribution of marital property at divorce or death and to give legal recognition to cohabitation.
The bill was informed by nationwide consultations spearheaded by the African Women Lawyers Association. But 15 years later, she lamented, the legislation remains stuck in limbo.
She argued that Parliament’s neglect of the bill is emblematic of a broader pattern of constitutional failures, where the rights of citizens—particularly women—are routinely sidelined. “This persistent vacuum has left countless spouses, especially women in customary and Islamic marriages, financially exposed, vulnerable to exploitation, and without adequate protection in cases of divorce or death,” she said.
Beyond the spousal property bill, she also tore into the Intestate Succession Law, saying it falls far short of ensuring equal rights for spouses regardless of whether they married under customary, Islamic, or ordinance law.
She called for urgent amendments to bring the law in line with constitutional principles of equality and fairness, insisting that its current form “systematically deprives” many women—and in some cases men—of what is rightfully theirs.
Mould-Iddrisu’s message to Parliament was blunt: the time for excuses is over. “This has to be rectified now,” she declared, urging lawmakers to immediately pass the Property Rights of Spouses Bill and amend the Intestate Succession Law.
For her, the failure to act after 32 years is more than legislative delay—it is a betrayal of Ghana’s women, of families, and of the very Constitution Parliament swore to uphold.
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