The Women's wing expressed shock, disbelief and revulsion at comments made by Nana Addo to the extent of national and international embarrassment.
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NDC Women's wing slams Nana Addo over 'reckless' gender comments
The Women's wing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has expressed concern in relation to comments made by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the just ended Women Deliver Conference in Canada.
Hannah Bissiw
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Their reaction follows backlash over some comments Nana Addo at the 2019 Women Deliver Conference in Canada.
In his contribution at the Conference, Nana Addo said he is yet to see dynamism in Ghanaian women.
"We are not seeing enough dynamism and activism on the part of those who are seeking. I am talking about dynamism where it matters…electing people to Parliament, controlling political parties because they are the instruments by which our societies make decisions.
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"We are talking about decisions, not wishes and hopes, we are talking about decisions that are going to make the difference," he said.
The comments have been heavily criticised by some Ghanaian women despite the open challenge that was given Nana Addo at the conference by Dr Alaa Murabit, the UN's High Commissioner on Health Employment and Economic Growth, who appeared uncomfortable by the president's stance.
At a press conference addressed by the National Women's organiser of the NDC, Hannah Bissiw, she said Nana Addo denigrated the Ghanaian woman in the most debasing manner on a global stage when he claimed that the Ghanaian women have done very little to deserve a place in national decision-making.
"Clearly, President Akufo-Addo was clueless and uninformed. He displayed next-to-no-knowledgeabout the subject, and even when he was prompted by one of his female co-panelists, who strenuously sought to correct his preposterous misrepresentations on that platform, he adamantly touted his half-baked Free SHS as a gender empowerment tool of his government and lied about 30% of his cabinet being female," she said.
"Our painstaking investigations have revealed that out of his nineteen (19) Cabinet Ministers, only five (5) of them are women, which represents 26% of Cabinet, and not 30% as he claimed. How could the President get this basic fact wrong? Could it be part of his mere lip service and rhetoric about women empowerment?" Hannah Bissiw queried.
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She added: "the most debilitating effect of our President’s reckless talk, is what those comments have done to the age-old struggle for female empowerment in Ghana. Elsewhere, such comments from President Akufo-Addo could kill the spirit and soul of gender empowerment activism.
"However, the tsunami of voices of protestation from Ghanaian women demonstrates that we are well past being cowered into accepting such verbal abuse as women and as key players in our national development journey."
She further said Nana Addo embarrassed Ghanaian women in no uncertain terms on the global stage.
She also used the opportunity to remind the President that, Ghana continues to celebrate her illustrious female heroes such as, Yaa Asantewa that great warrior, Dr Mary Grant, Hajia Adiza Mumkaila, Madam Susana Alhasan, Theodosia Okoe, Esther Ocloo, Prof. Efua Sutherland, Prof. Ama Atta Aidoo among others.
Ghana has had a female Speaker before, in the person of the Right Honourable Joyce Bamford-Addo of Parliament; and two successive female Chief Justices, Her Ladyship Georgina Theodora Wood and Her Ladyship Sophia Akuffo. An endless list of contemporaries such as Prof. Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang, Prof. Henrietta Mensah-Bonsu, Hon. Marietta Brew Appiah Oppong, Hon. Hannah Tetteh, Dr. Joyce Aryee, Mrs. Charlotte Osei, Mrs. Lucy Quist, Mrs. Patricia Obo-Nai and Mrs. Mawuena Trebarh to name but very few, who have all staked a rightful claim to national and historical prominence as trailblazers in female leadership in this country, she noted.
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