5 Women Orgs. slam Akufo-Addo for sidelining them

Women Organisers of five opposition political parties, have expressed disappointment with the presidency for failing to invite them to be part of a meeting President Nana Akufo-Addo had with opposition parties at the Flagstaff House on Thursday, 4 January.

The Coalition of National Women Organisers, Ghana (CONWOG), in a press statement jointly signed by Janet Nabla of the People’s National Convention (PNC) and Acting Chairperson of the group; Mrs. Peace Adjo Aryee of the National Democratic Party (NDP); Mrs Aisha Sulley Futa of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP); Mrs Vivian Tetteh of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP); and Hajia Zenabu Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), said they received the disappointing news with “a heavy heart”.

“We woke up on Friday the 5th of January 2018 to the disappointing news that the president of the republic of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo, through his protocol office, had invited the Chairmen and the General Secretaries of the various political parties in the country to a meeting at the presidency, the Flagstaff House on Thursday the 4th of January 2018.

“It was so disheartening to note that the presidency, together with its protocol office, did not notice the gender inadequacies in the composition of the persons invited to such a very important function, i.e. to take stock of the past and the lookout for better means in providing a better future for mother Ghana,” the Women Organisers said.

The women said: “Inasmuch as to a very large extent we agree with the purpose and intent of this function, we take exception to the fact that the presidency did not deem it expedient to eliminate gender biases regarding the persons invited to the function.”

The statement said: “A wise man once said: ‘You cannot keep on doing things the same old way and expect to attain new and better results’. Men have always occupied key and sensitive positions in the affairs of this nation during the pre- and post-colonial eras, yet what do we see after sixty years of self-rule? Corruption, poverty, backwardness and all other forms of negative occurrences.

“It is based on the above premise that we believe the president, who is touted as a renowned human rights activist, would have planned better and created the avenue for the national Women Organisers of the various political parties in the country to participate in this all-important forum”.

The Women Organiser have, thus, said: “We in no uncertain terms and unequivocally condemn this act of discrimination and bias emanating from no mean an office but the presidency.”

Is the leadership of this country trying to tell us that the issue of the creation of the proposed new regions for which a referendum needs to be organised and which was discussed at the said function, way above the Intelligence Quotient of we Ghanaian women that they do not find it expedient for us to participate in the discussions? We believe Ghanaian women deserve better”.

The group is, therefore, demanding appeasement from the president over the matter.

“We hereby call on the president to apologise to the women of this country and also put steps in place to ensure that women are treated fairly and accorded the needed respect moving forward.

“Even more disheartening is the fact that the political parties themselves who were invited to the function did not find it expedient to include women in the delegation that each of them sent to the function. How laughable is it that this same party leadership who preach issues of gender parity could put up teams to go to such an important function without the inclusion of women? Are they saying that the value of women is only noticed during the time of elections?

“We believe that the contributions of women towards the development of mother Ghana can never be over-emphasised. The leadership of these political parties themselves must bow their heads in shame and come out with an appropriate apology as well as put structures in place to forestall such negative occurrences in the future.”

Source:ClassFM