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Oboshie speaks against 'premature' Running Mate stories |
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In 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding better pay and the right to vote. 100 years on, there are convincing media speculations that all three major political parties in Election 2008 here in Ghana are seriously considering choosing a woman as Vice Presidential candidate for the first time. |
Betty Mould for the National Democratic Congress, Samia Nkrumah for the Convention People's Party, and Alima Mahama and Oboshie Sai Cofie for the New Patriotic Party.
But in an exclusive interview with Ghana's latest news agency, Trunk News Agency last Saturday, on International Women’s Day, the Information Minister described talk of who partners the NPP Presidential Candidate Nana Akufo-Addo in the December contest as "not a priority issue” for the party now.
She explains: “I don’t think it’s time to be considering who the running mate should be. We’re currently working on putting into full working gear, the campaign structures and the campaign team. A task force to better define the relationship between party and government is also at work. I think the understanding is that the nomination of running mate is not to be considered until the second half of the year. It cannot therefore be helpful to seek to force that onto the agenda.”
She believes that “We are blessed with a lot of competent people in the party who are worth considering,” so the choice of running mate, when the time comes, “should not be a problem at all” for Nana Akufo-Addo and the National Executive Committee of the NPP.
Mrs Oboshie Sai says she is, nevertheless, flattered by the fact that her name is among those being mentioned as probable candidates for consideration for the number two top job of the country. “It is always flattering to hear people linking your name to such a high office. It must mean, I hope, that ones modest efforts are being generously recognised.”
On the general issue of women being considered as running mates in three parties, she sees it as a long over-due recognition of “the potential of more than half of this country’s population. It must mean that those of us who have had the opportunity and privilege to break through the historical gender barrier, we have not disappointed and are doing something right and appreciable for the enhancement of the Ghanaian society.”
She is still saddened by the very low participation of women in politics. She feels a lot more work has to be done to recruit "more and more young" women at the secondary and tertiary levels to the NPP.
"We have to start from that level, especially TESCON. If our party is, as we believe, the vehicle to bring development, prosperity and freedoms to Ghanaians, then we can only secure the legitimate continuity of this important phenomenon by actively involving future generations across the gender divide," the Information Minister and public relations maestro opines.
"I want to see, for instance, half of our Members of Parliament representing half of Ghana’s population - and that means women."
She believes the fight is not only to get men to shed their old skin of chauvinism, but also for women to be "bolder and prouder in asserting our rights and abilities. 17 people, for instance, contested for our party’s flagbearership last December and it seemed the only way we could get a woman to contest was to have resurrected the late Madam Hawa Yakubu. We cannot continue making our assertions the exception. It must become the norm."
The Information Minister fears that the randomly violent, defamatory and insulting intrusions that public officials unduly receive from the press can serve as a turn off for many women.
In her view, President Kufuor "recognises that gender equality is critical to the development process and has been refreshingly active in pushing that agenda."
But she believes a lot more has to be done to "roll back the marginalisation of women."
In her view, intensifying education "for both men and women is necessary for stopping the feminisation of poverty. '
Making the link between gender equality and development, the smooth-waxing Information Minister makes the point that the Ghanaian woman’s social and economic position has "gradually improved in many ways due to positive developments in female enrolment in higher education, adult literacy, management positions and the unprecedented growth in the economy which has seen this country’s economy grown from a modest $3.9 billion in 2000 to over $14 billion today – all within 7 years."
Mrs Oboshie Sai argues that since Ghanaian women are active participants in the local economy they become "automatically beneficiaries or victims of the country’s economic pendulum swing." |
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