Gender Centre for Empowering Development(GenCED) West Africa is calling on President John Dramani Mahama to consider more women to be part of his government.
To the group, during the campaign of President Mahama and in the NDC manifesto he assured Ghanaians that he will ensure the effectiveness of the affirmative action by giving 30% of his appointment to women,therefore it bestowed on him to do the needful.
At a post- election forum on women’s Participation and Representation in the 2024 general elections, Gifty Ofori, Programmes/monitoring and evaluation officer at GenCED congratulated President Mahama for choosing female to as his running mate and now the vice president, but pleaded with him to ensure a minimum of 30% of all appointments are allocated to women.
According to her, research conducted by GenCED in the just ended general elections has clearly shown that there was low women participation in the 2024 general elections due to financial constraints.
Miss Gifty Ofori urged on all political parties to quota to women to be well represented and also have a mentorship programme for the women as is been done to support men as in the form of political godfathers.
Emmanuel Opoku, Political Officer at the Canadian High Commission, congratulated GenCED for the role they played leading to the 2024 general election,lthough, the elections did not result in the desired 30% representation for women in parliament.
He assured Ghanaians of his outfit commitment in supporting GenCED through through the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives, promoting and advancing women’s political participation, and preventing violence and discrimination in the 2024 electoral processes.
According to him, women’s political participation results in tangible gains for democracy including greater responsiveness to citizens needs, increased cooperation across party lines, high responsiveness to constituent concerns, and prioritization of health, education, and other key development indicators.
story by Aikins Agyei
