The decision of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to pick a female as running mate for the December presidential elections has obviously given the party an edge over the other parties as the list of influential names calling on the other parties to do same keeps expanding.
President of the Methodist Church of Ghana, the Most Rev. Dr. Paul Kwabena Boafo is the latest to add his voice to the call on other political parties, especially the New Patriotic Party (NPP), to take a cue from the NDC and prove its professed believe in women in leadership.
Dr. Boafo made the call during his ‘Mothers Day’ sermon at the Most Rev Kwesi Dickson Memorial Methodist Church in Adjiringanor, on Sunday May 12.
“I pray that the others will also learn and copy from this to show the yes indeed celebrating women is not just for celebrating sake but that we will bring them to the front burner and make them part and parcel of our political landscape”, Dr. Boafo noted and commended the NDC for the bold political statement on women empowerment it made by picking a female who could become the first female Vice President of the country.
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He said celebrating women and mothers goes beyond picking one day to sing their praises and shower them with gifts but rather enhancing their true value and potentials in whatever way and form including putting them at the topmost policy and decision making positions.
The clergy leader explained the importance of having women in leadership roles and took the opportunity to urge all females to not take a laid back position expecting to be spoon fed.
“Celebrating women should bring us to the table to understand that yes indeed these mothers and these women, we should see how we can bring them into the political landscape,” he asserted.
He continued: “We are not only celebrating mothers and women but we see your value, we see your importance, we see what you bring to the table and what you bring to society.
“It is not just a celebration to acknowledge what mothers do but to also look into the future as to what our mothers can continue to do for our societies, families, in our churches, in our political landscape and the entire Ghana.”
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67 years after Ghana gained political independence, no female has occupied the first or second highest office in the land yet it continues to pride itself as a beacon of gender equality and advocate of women empowerment.
Unlike the NPP which is yet to elect a running mate to partner Vice President Mahamadu Bawumia, the party’s flag-bearer, the NDC which is the largest opposition party has for the second time settled on a female as its running mate.
The NDC to the admiration of many, proved its genuine commitment to empowering women by ensuring gender balance on its 2024 ticket.
The party’s candidate, former President John Mahama, went for Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, an accomplished Academic as his choice of running mate.
The NDC, just like 2020, has proven to be a model of inclusiveness and gender balance in the selection of leaders.
If there is any political party in Ghana that has bragged of believing in women, it is the NPP yet that is the only major political party in Ghana that has consistently ignored women on its ticket.
Even the Convention People’s Party (CPP) in the year 2012 also elected Nana Akosua Frimpomaa Sarpong II as its running mate. That was a statement.
The Progressive People’s Party (PPP) in the year 2012 selected Madam Eva Lokko, now of blessed memory, as its running mate.
The PPP, again in 2016, settled on Ms Bridget Dzogbenuku as the party’s running mate.
The NPP, once again, has yet another opportunity to demonstrate its confessed support for women, believe in gender balance, believe in women and believe in women empowerment by its choice of running mate to partner Vice President Bawumia for the 2020 polls. Actions, they say, speaks louder than words.
