Women’s rights organisations salute Prof Naana Opoku-Agyemang

Three Women’s right organisations have jointly congratulated Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang for her nomination as Vice Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

In a statement signed by the Pauline Vande-Pallen, NETRIGHT Convenor, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, the organisations - Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana, the Domestic Violence Coalition and the Women’s Manifesto Coalition - said they learned with great excitement and appreciation the choice of Prof Opoku-Agyemang as the running mate of Former President John Dramani Mahama for the 2020 Elections.

“We hereby register our congratulations to the NDC for the courageous acknowledgment of Prof. Opoku-Agyemang, not only as a person with accumulated expertise from an illustrious public career, but one who has undoubtedly overcome the obstacles that women face in political institutions,” it said.

It said they were always gratified to see women ascend to positions of leadership and distinction because it affirmed the legitimacy of their struggle for gender equality and social justice.

“We recall with gratitude the seven women who trailblazed as Vice-Presidential candidates of their political parties in the Fourth Republic, which include Prof. Naa Afarley Sackeyfio, Eva Lokko of blessed memory, and most recently, Brigitte Dzogbenuku.

“Their actions and sacrifices contributed in no small measure to the recognition of the importance and necessity of women’s participation at the highest levels of our politics as a nation,” it said.

It said as the first woman chosen to contest as a Vice Presidential candidate by a major political party, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang had done honour to herself and to all women who were struggling for recognition of their immense contributions in the nation’s development.

Her selection, it said, constituted a high level of gender responsiveness and appreciable progress, adding that, women in Ghana had a critical role to play in bringing about the transformational changes required for a genuine sustainable development.

“That move must also be backed by a commitment to forge a gender equal participation of women at all levels of society,” it said.

The statement, therefore, urged all political parties to acknowledge women’s readiness to contribute as critical decision-makers at all levels of the governance system and to recognise that promoting women to high level positions of leadership was a key determinant of women’s political empowerment and equal engagement.

The statement said it was their expectation that Prof. Opoku Agyemang’s nomination would strengthen the democratic transformation of the internal political cultures of her party, and that of all political parties.

This, it said, should engender issues-based politics, which was free of prejudicial utterances that could lead to violence in the conduct of the coming elections.