Government is committed to pass Affirmative Action Bill - Minister

Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Muniru

Bolgatanga, May 18, GNA - Alhaji Limuna Mohammed -Muniru, Upper East Regional Minster, on Thursday reiterated Government's commitment to pass the Affirmative Action Bill into law.

The Minister, who specifically directed the message to gender advocates, was addressing a public durbar held in Bolgatanga on the theme: 'Advocacy for the Passage of the Affirmative Action Bill into Law.'

It was organised by the Regional Inter-sectoral Gender Network (RISEGNET) and sponsored by Action Aid Ghana (AAG ) and attracted about 150 participants.

Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru said government was not only committed to the passage of the bill but would religiously implement it to the expectation of Ghanaians.

He said told the forum, which included Past and Present Assembly Women Association, Queen mothers, and women heading the various departments, that the final draft of the bill had been validated by key stakeholders to ensure its collective ownership.

He said women participation and representation in decision-making was the foundation on which women's empowerment and other related issues could be built, adding that 'it is the most effective way to combat poverty, hunger and disease'.

Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru said for the first time in the history of Ghana, President Mahama and his Government had given a fair representation to women who had been appointed into key public offices.

He urged the gender advocates to inculcate into the girl-child values of positive attitudes in her outlook to life and to rise above the barriers to attaining her goals as an individual.

The participants argued that women participation and representation in decision making was a right recognized under the Charter on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Protocol of African Charter on Human Rights of which Ghana was a signatory.

The Chairman of RISEGNET, Mr Daud James Abang-Gos, said since independence no woman had ever headed the Upper Region now Upper East Region, spanning over seven successive governments and that no woman had ever represented the region at the Council of State.

'As of now we have 23 elected assembly women as against 353 men elected in the region. Out of a total number of 153 government appointees to the various assemblies in the region 43 are women as against 110 men'.

Mr James Kusi Boama, Programme Manager of AAG, mentioned marginalization of women in leadership positions, violence against women and negative cultural practices such as widowhood rites and female genital mutilation as some of the factors that violated fundamental human rights of women.

He said it was only when the Affirmative Action Bill was passed into law that some of the challenges confronting women could be addressed effectively.

GNA