Ghana: Political Parties Urged to Advocate Passage of Affirmative Action Bill

29 September 2023
Ghanaian Times (Accra)
By Anita Nyarko-Yirenkyi

Political parties have been urged to be advocates of the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill (AA Bill) into law to ensure equal representation at all levels.

The Convenor of the Affirmative Action Coalition Bill, Mrs Sheila Minkah-Premo, said such political parties would help promote decision making process at all levels.

She made the appeal at a forum with the representatives of political parties on the passage of the Affirmative Action law in Ghana in Accra yesterday.

It was aimed at seeking their support and commitment for the passage of the affirmative action law, and to court their interest in supporting the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill.

Organised by the Affirmative Action Bill (AA Bill) Coalition in conjunction with the Center for Democratic Development (CDD) Ghana, it was on the theme; 'Supporting the passage of Affirmative Action Law in Ghana for increase women's participation: The role of Political Parties.'

Participants were from the New Patriotic Party, National Democratic Congress, Convention People's Party, Progressive Peoples Party, People's National Convention and Women in Political Training.

Mrs Minkah-Premo stressed the need for the political parties to understand the bill and the need to pass it into law, saying that the bill had been in Cabinet since March 2023 and had seen little progress into law.

The Convenor said the bill was crucial to address areas of social, economic and educational imbalance, adding that Ghana was ranked 145th of 193 countries in the 2023 Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Gender Ranking, which she said was very low.

She said women were over 50 per cent of the country's population but the ratio of women in Parliament, District Assemblies was low.

A member of the AA Bill Coalition, Mrs Hamida Harrison, noted the law was crucial to ensure gender equality at all levels.

She added political parties were critical institutions in a constitutional multiparty democracy and could contribute to promoting women's increase in political participation and representation in politics

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