You are here: HomeOpinionsArticles2010 03 08Article 178025

Opinions of Monday, 8 March 2010

Columnist: Sangaparee, Clement

31st December Women’s Movement Is Not A Political Wing Of ....

The Ndc As Minority Claims

The 31st December Women’s Movement is a development NGO and was founded with the main goal of mobilizing women, particularly the disadvantaged and vulnerable in both rural and urban areas. The movement wanted women to understand the governance of the country and wanted women to be part of the participatory democratic system that was evolving before them, since 51% of Ghana’s population are women. Kindly have the courtesy of publishing this master piece un-edited because of the message it carries. The President of the 31st December Women’s Movement strongly believe that women were not adequately rewarded or appreciated for their work or for the various roles they played and are still playing in the socio-economic development of Ghana. The 31st December Women’s Movement supported and promoted activities at the grass roots level – activities that would empower women through education, management of their profits, capacity building, which enabled women to develop a new sense of culture and attitude to take charge of their lives and be part of governance from the village to the national level.

The Movement encouraged more women to contest for the positions of assembly women, members of parliament and some actually won their seats nationwide. Most of these women became DCE’s ministers of state etc. which vindicated the slogan of the 31st December Women’s Movement that the only place for the woman is not the kitchen.

The 31st December Women’s Movement spearheaded the advocacy and got the Intestate Succession Law passed PDNC Law 111 in 1985, and the marriage and divorce registration Law PNDC Law 112 which benefited ALL Ghanaian women and NOT only members of the 31st December Women’s Movement nor NDC women. By insisting that the 31st December Women’s Movement constitute the Women’s wing of the NDC, are the NPP gurus and its Minority in parliament telling Ghanaians that the NDC formed its Women’s wing ten good years before the party itself was formed or what are they trying to tell Ghanaians? We have countless NGO’s sharing the same bed with the NPP and nobody calls them an integral wing of the NPP. Nobody can destroy or demonize the 31st December Women’s Movement.

LEST WE FORGET

In 2001, the NPP government issued instructions to almost all the instruments of the Executive branch to do everything possible to destroy the 31st December Women’s Movement nationwide and Ex-President Kufuor went ahead to instruct his National Security to go into the operations of this legally registered Women’s organization. It was the only NGO in Ghana whose accounts were audited, and without any means to claim the numerous achievements of the 31st December Women’s Movement as their own, the NPP set up the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs to usurp the potency of the Movement, what a shame!

Ex-President Kufuor’s NPP government followed it up by withdrawing all teachers on secondment to the over 1,500 schools built by the 31st December Women’s Movement nationwide as well as over 1,000 day nurseries.

Ex-President Kufuor flatly refused to sign for the Movement on behalf of Government of Ghana to enable it open up a factory at Tema and the amount generated a lot of interests which were paid by the former first lady. As if that was NOT enough, the NPP government wanted to jail Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings with false charges and she would have been jailed by now if these vicious and vengeful tribal bigots in the NPP had won the 2008 general elections. Ghana’s democracy is doomed because we now have a very dishonest minority members who are so hopeless that nothing good will come out from their months in parliament. The 31st December Women’s Movement is not the women’s wing of the NDC and it has never been so at all. Hopeless minority group, come again and speak the truth. God stood strongly behind the leadership of the 31st December Women’s Movement and delivered them from the claws of a vicious and fearful looking despot in democratic garbs and the Movement will shine forever in Ghana. Akata Manso, Ekata Moso.

…………………………. Clement Sangaparee E-mail: clementsang@yahoo.com DISTRIBUTION All Media Houses

¬