Gender advocates salute CPP, Samia

Accra, Sept. 20, GNA – The Savannah Women’s Empowerment Group, Ghana (SWEGG) a gender rights network, on Tuesday described the election of Ms Christina Yaaba Samia Nkrumah as leader of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) as a milestone towards women’s political renaissance in Africa.

“This move is unprecedented in the political history if the country, for a woman to occupy this enviable position of being both a chairperson and a leader of a political party.

“The election of Ms Nkrumah should mark the beginning of a more gender balanced representation in all political parties, which should lead to a drastic change in the number of women in Parliament,” SWEGG noted in a statement to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

Current statistics indicate that there are only 19 women out of 230 parliamentarians, and that out of the 19 the three northern regions have only two, the statement signed by SWEGG Coordinator Ms Amina Montia stated.

SWEGG therefore noted that the election of three women to the topmost position of the CPP served as the beginning of breaking grounds for women in Ghana’s political terrain and a natural expression of confidence in women by the party.

“It also demonstrates the CPP’s response to the clarion calls from both international and national bodies such as the United Nations, the African Union, ECOWAS and other national human rights instruments and advocacy groups in Ghana for gender equality,” it noted.

The SWEGG statement indicated that the gender mainstreaming within the CPP was a well calculated move had the potential of shoring up the position of women in the country’s current political dispensation.

“By electing these female officers to steer the affairs of the party, the CPP has gone beyond the mere tokenism of women’s organizer position. We hope this is in response to the new wind of change blowing the world over with the election of Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Sonia Gandhi as Denmark’s first female Prime Minister and Leader of India’s Congress Party respectively,” the statement stated.

SWEGG therefore called on other political parties to emulate the bold and positive step taken by the CPP in breaking the political glass ceiling and to fast-track the policy of affirmative action as per the 1992 Constitution to ensure that more women are elected into the next parliament.

SWEGG also commended women pace setters in the Ghanaian political landscape, including Akua Asabea, Hanna Cudjoe, Ama Nkrumah, Leticia Quaye, Mrs Susana Al-Hassan, Mrs Ayanori Bukari, Ms Ramatu Baba and Miss Victoria Nyarko.

“With the right level of policy commitment, therefore, it is possible to address the gender imbalance in decision making and governance, as there is ample evidence of the willingness of women to participate in the political process,” the statement indicated.