I Prefer A Woman To A Drunkard President - NDC Activist

A member of the 31st December Women Movement, Ms. Abigail Kyeiwaah Frimpong, has described statements made by the Greater Accra Regional First Vice Chairman of the NPP, Mr. R. O. Solomon that Ghana is a serious country that needs a serious person to rule it and not a woman like Atta Mills, as sexist and discriminatory.

In a telephone interview with The Lens, Ms. Kyeiwaah said such a comment, coming from such a highly placed official of the NPP clearly demonstrates that the NPP does not believe that a woman is incapable of becoming Presidents this country.

"What does he mean? Is he telling us that no Ghanaian woman is capable of running this country? What do these people take us for at all?" she queried.

"So all their talk about their belief in the Ghanaian woman were all their usual empty rhetoric devoid of substance? I want to assure him that if the NPP does not have women with the intellectual and managerial capabilities to preside over the affairs of this country, he should not make the mistake of assuming that such women do not exist elsewhere in this country. We have women who are capable of doing a better job at serving this country as President than some of the so-called men that we are seeing today," Ms. Frimpong pointed out.

She continued that, "In my view, Mr. R. O. Solomon's view typifies the way the NPP sees women; as second rate citizens who must be "ruled", yes that was the word he used, "ruled" by men. It's a pity that in this day and age we can actually have people thinking like this and expect the women of this country to vote for them."

"Gosh, with people like these in power the Ghanaian woman can never expect to achieve her fullest potential. I now understand why they feel so intimidated by the 31st December Women Movement. The Movement was giving the Ghanaian woman the kind of empowerment that the likes of R. O. Solomon and the NPP would rather prefer the Ghanaian woman does not have so that they could continue to keep us in the background," she said, unable to contain her exasperation.

In a related development, Mr. Mark Quaye of Adenta has told The Lens that he would prefer to have a woman President any day rather than a drunkard president.

Mr. Quaye said, "it is now a universally acclaimed fact that women are capable of doing anything that men can do, including serving as president. Given a choice between a woman president and a drunkard president who fails to honour confirmed appointments, I would choose a woman for president any day."

"You see, Mr. R. O. Solomon's words betray the mentality of the leadership of the NPP. They believe that we are their subjects and they are to rule us. That obviously explains why they are lavishing the resources of the state on themselves, competing with one another in who spends the greater resources at renovating his/her residence and/or office, with the President himself buying four new bullet-proof vehicles as well as fifty brand new motorbikes for his convoy, while the salaries of workers are slashed down, obviously to accommodate these lavish lifestyles," Mr. Quaye lamented.

On Monday 1st November, Peace 104.3 FM's correspondent, Mr. Yaw Obeng Manu posted a report headlined 'Ghana Needs A Man And Not Woman Like Mills', which reads as follows:- "The Greater Accra Regional First Vice Chairman of the ruling NPP, R.O. Solomon says Ghana is a serious country that needs a serious person to rule and not a woman like Atta Mills.

He said running Ghana is a big job and it is for men and not women like Prof. Atta Mills.

Mr Solomon was speaking at the launching of the Ashiaman constituency campaign for election 2004. He said Atta Mills has not demonstrated to Ghanaians that he is a man and such a person does not deserve to be elected as president.

Mr. R.O. Solomon urged Ghanaians not to make a mistake of voting for Prof. Mills to become the president of Ghana because Ghana is moving forward.