Ghana’s first female Attorney General, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, has challenged students at the Ghana School of Law to look well beyond the statute books, warning that courts, not parliament, have been driving the most consequential changes in the country’s family and succession law.
Mould-Iddrisu, who also serves as a member of the Council of State, delivered the remarks as the keynote speaker at a public lecture held as part of the 66th Students Representative Council (SRC) Week celebration of the Ghana School of Law, hosted at the Faculty of Law of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on March 25, 2026.
“The law is rarely complete,” she told students. “Statutes are drafted in a particular moment in time, but society evolves much faster.”
She pointed to landmark Supreme Court decisions, including Mensah v Mensah and Arthur v Arthur, as examples of how judicial rulings have reshaped marital property law by recognising non-financial contributions such as childcare and domestic work. More recent decisions, she noted, suggest a shift toward stricter interpretations of ownership, creating uncertainty where comprehensive legislation is absent.
Referencing the family dispute surrounding the late musician Daddy Lumba, she said the case exposed a persistent challenge in Ghanaian family law, particularly around the coexistence of customary marriages, stressing that the most important lesson for lawyers was not the dramatic public nature of the dispute but the legal framework questions it raised.
She renewed calls for the long-delayed Property Rights of Spouses legislation, arguing that until parliament acts, Ghana’s courts will continue bearing the burden of filling legislative gaps through what she described as the “living law.”
On practical skills, she urged lawyers to develop strong negotiation and mediation capabilities, stressing that family disputes are not always settled by court judgments but are “resolved mainly by carefully negotiated settlements.”
Her closing message framed law as a fundamentally human profession. “Behind every succession case lies a family navigating grief, loss and uncertainty,” she said, urging the next generation of lawyers to apply the law in ways that reflect the realities of the society it serves.
