The National Women’s Organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Hannah-Louisa Bissiw, has called out President Akufo-Addo claiming he has misrepresented the percentage of women in his cabinet at the International Women’s Conference in Vancova, Canada.
She said women in the president’s cabinet make up 26% and not 30% as quoted by the president on the International Women’s Conference, “Women Deliver”.
The President had said at the conference that the 52% Ghanaian women had not shown enough dynamism and activism to deserve a place on the decision-making table.
In a statement, the National Women’s organizer of the NDC said the president’s oversight was incomprehensible.
“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?” it stated.
The NDC women called on the president to offer an unqualified apology to the women of Ghana for his comments.
According to the statement, the president was “clueless and uninformed” on the subject of women’s struggles.
“Perhaps, 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”, part of the statement read.
By Paul Agbo | 3news.com | Ghana