Law, Culture and Women's Inheritance Rights in ... - Leitner Center

Ms. Akyere and Ms. Eshon represent many of women who are unable to enforce their rights
under Law 111 because of a lack of resources, both legal and financial. They lack local access to
counsel and to courts, the means to travel to secure such access, or the resources necessary to
mount a sustained legal battle to secure their rights.
3. Resistance to the Enforcement of Law 111
Even if women understand their rights under the law and have the resources to pursue their
claims, they often face significant social pressure from their families and communities not to
seek legal recourse and instead to resolve the cases outside of the judicial system. Supreme Court
Justice Joyce Bamford Addo commented that “the majority of people do not go to court because
the Chiefs are so powerful you would not dare go over their heads.” [FN367] Justice Isaac
Lartey-Young noted that most cases are resolved in the traditional ways and that he will only
hear a case if there are problems. [FN368] He added, “[i]f they are dealt with in the traditional
courts and there is peace, I will not know.” [FN369] As Samuel Yao Nudo, an attorney in Ho,
explained, “[i]f maintenance or inheritance cases are filed in court, it means there was a total
breakdown of societal norms; it means that the elders, the chief, the pastor, all highly respected
members of the community, have all failed to resolve the dispute.” [FN370]
Such extra-legal resolution of cases is not itself problematic. Indeed, resolution of disputes
outside of court and without recourse to counsel can, in theory, reduce both the cost to the parties
and the friction within the family. In many circumstances, however, traditional authorities do not
resolve the cases in a manner consistent with Law 111. Such authorities may not *335 know
about the law. If they do, they may simply refuse to enforce it to its full extent or ignore it
altogether.
Resistance to the intestate succession system created by Law 111 is perhaps strongest in
Muslim communities because the system differs from the distribution set forth in the Koran.
[FN371] Indeed, Muslim communities in Ghana generally refuse to follow Law 111 unless
directed to do so by a court of law. [FN372] Alhaj Hamza Umar, Regional Chief Imam for the
Volta Region, explained: “We continue with our law. We still go with the Koran as it says.”
[FN373] Moreover, if a Muslim woman seeks to enforce her rights under Law 111, she may face
even stronger criticism from the community than a non-Muslim woman. Alhaj Hamza Umar
relayed the facts of a case in his community in which a woman attempted to enforce her rights
under Law 111 in court. According to Alhaj Hamza Umar, the woman “abrogated the Koran”
and can no longer be a Muslim. [FN374]
The problem of community resistance to Law 111 is compounded in some places by the
attitude of law enforcement. A woman may risk ostracism by her community in order to seek
help from the police only to find that the police view inheritance as a “private matter” in which
they should become involved. [FN375] For example, the Assistant Superintendent of Police in
Ho, Mr. F. Mahama admitted that he did not attempt to enforce the *336 criminal provisions of
Law 111 protecting widows. Specifically, he responded to the question “Do widows come to you
for help when driven from home?” by stating: “If the act of driving them from husband's home
results in assault, then they go to police and we take action on that assault aspect, but not the
inheritance aspect.” [FN376]
The Director of the Legal Aid Board for the Western Region accounted for the attitude of the
police by speculating that male police officers “do not want to enforce [Law 111] because even
they would use customary law.” [FN377] The Government has attempted to respond to this