Women politicians turn heat on legislature for failing to pass Affirmative Action Bill

Women representatives’ from the various political parties on Saturday, took turns at the 2016 election youth debate series at the Law auditorium of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, to articulate the policies of their parties regarding women, children and youth.

The debate, which was organized by the African height foundation in collaboration with the debate society and Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of the KNUST, was the third in a row sponsored by the open society initiative for West Africa (OSIWA)

One policy that stood out strong in almost all the submissions was the affirmative action bill which has not been passed for over a decade.

In her submission, the parliamentary candidate for the New Patriotic Party for the Evalue Gwira constituency, Catherine Afeku took it hard on the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) for failing to pass the bill that should have ensured at least 30 percent representation of women in governance by 2015 per United Nations (UN) targets.

“We still have not been able to pass affirmative action in eight years under the NDC. That’s because it is not a priority for this government. When we come to power, in two months, we will make sure affirmative action is a law. Women will be given equal footing in politics, in business, on boards. We are over 50% in this nation and we have a lot of competent women capable of leading,” a vociferous Catherine stated.

The governing NDC which was heckled the most being the party in the helm of affairs was represented by Debora Dugbartey. Contrary to the ideals and campaign promises of her own party, she contended that the John Dramani Mahama Administration was committed to rolling out a progressive approach towards more women inclusion in governance.

“My party is encouraging women, giving them the resources and strengthening them. It’s a progressive policy where in the first term; we are increasing women participation in governance by fifteen percent and then probably the next two years twenty percent. It’s a gradual process and not something that can happen at a goal.”

The National Women’s Organiser of the Conventions Peoples Party (CPP) Hajia Aisha Futa however proposed a rather aggressive approach to getting the affirmative action bill passed.

“Irrespective of the political colouring, we are all women so let’s come out and fight together for our rights. We can come together and say if the affirmative action is not passed, women are not going to vote in Ghana again,” Hajia charged.

The Peoples National Congress which was represented by its national women’s organiser Janet Nabla gave assurances the affirmative action bill will be the first the PNC will pass into law when given the nod to lead the country.

Beyond the politicians, she lashed out at corporate institutions that employed a woefully disproportionate number of women describing the trend as “discriminatory.”

The Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) which was ably represented by its National Women’s Coordinator Madam Vivian Kakie Tetteh drew attention to the number of women with disabilities whose equal right to governance and employment have been curtailed with little attention brought to it.

Other policies that came up in the debate were the controversial Spouses” and “Intestate Succession (Amendment bill, inheritance bill; empowerment of women living with disability and the growing spiral of youth and graduate unemployment in the country.