Mr Speaker, I also rise to add my voice to this Bill.
We know the purpose of this Bill; it supports persons whose spouses have died intestate. When we say spouses, in actual fact, we stress on the women and children more than the men because it is the women who are thrown out by the families. This is because it is their son's property, so they have a say.
We, the women are very happy that this Bill will be passed into law, so that those families who are out there, who would take the law into their own hands would be duly punished.
Like somebody also said, with most of these women, you will find that they have looked after these men in school, they have cooked for them and done all their duties as well as looked after the children. Then all of a sudden, when the man is no more there, the family appears.
Also, some of these women do not have children but they have been living with the man all these years and have helped the man to acquire his estates. Then just because she does not have any child, the family again comes and says “you are not good, you must go out and then we will take the property”.
So, we are very happy that this Bill will be enacted and then passed into law, so that those people out there, who can take the law into their own hands, would be seen and the law would deal with them.
It has already been said, while we are alive, we must encourage everybody that we should make our Wills. Give the property out while we are alive. This is because when you are dead, you cannot
do anything anymore and your children are thrown out onto the streets. They become misfits and they will eventually go against the law and end up in prison. So, we encourage every spouse, male and female to put in place their Will, so that there will not be any problem later in life.
We also know that after the passage of the Bill into Act, the Legislative Instrument (L.I.) must promptly come, so that we can implement the law. So, we are also pushing the Attorney-General's (A- G) Department, that as soon as we pass the law, we must deal with the L.I., so that the implementation will be done swiftly.
Upon this, I would say the other Bill is coming and that, we will also go to address more concerns for women; The Property Rights of Spouses Bill. That one is also coming, which will go a long way to addressing the issues concerning women, especially, those whose husbands are no more. So, I will take this opportunity to ask my Hon Colleagues to adopt this Report, so that this Bill will be passed and everybody, especially women will be out there rejoicing, that at least, they would be catered for when their spouses are no more.
Thank you.
