Gender Dynamism comments: Akufo-Addo caught off-guard – Dafeamekpor

South Dayi Member of Parliament, Rockson Dafeamekpor has said that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s comments on gender dynamism in Africa and Ghana were made because he was ‘unprepared’ and taken by surprise.

Mr. Dafeamekpor believes the President was not properly briefed and psyched for the discussions on the day by policy analysts and Ministers he was accompanied by.

At a recent conference in Canada, the president suggested that not enough movement is being made by women to take up key positions in governance; and that although 30 per cent of his cabinet are women, they are not seeing enough dynamism and activism from the women.

But the comment has received massive criticism by his political opponents and some women activists who feel the president presented a negative picture about women.
Despite some defense built by members of his government and some women appointees of his; most of who say Mr. Akufo-Addo did no wrong because he was calling on women to use their agency to amplify their voice in decision making positions”, the NDC legislator disagrees.

He believes many strides have been attained as far as women empowerment and dynamism is concerned in several African countries and in Ghana particularly.

It was therefore inappropriate he insists, for the President to portray the picture that very little is being done by women to emerge in society.
Speaking on Joynews’ Newsfile Saturday, he said,

“I think our President wasn’t prepared, he wasn’t briefed properly. They underrated the effect of the interview because honestly I don’t see why the Gender Minister couldn’t have represented the country at that panel. Where they insist that we want the President to represent in his capacity as Gender Ambassador for Africa, then he needed to be briefed. His policy advisers actually needed to give him the statistics, moving from the general to the specifics; that’s what is happening in Africa, the culture, how far we have come, the efforts we are making and what we are doing in Ghana and we are doing a lot.

That is where I have a problem, aside the policy advisers, there are Ministers that he travelled with. When you come back home, great efforts have been made to help women representation in the judiciary especially.
Within the past 10 years, the women representation in the high courts, supreme courts, have increased tremendously.

Indeed, university admissions, right from 31 percent at the end of the millennium by 2015, the women admissions have increased to 51, women outnumber men on the university campuses now. It’s an effort towards projecting them when they leave school and eventually into positions of power. When the women were given the opportunity, they proved themselves and they need to be given the opportunity.



He needed to say that for instance, Ethiopia, Tanzania, they have done these, the women have done this, the women would have been listening, articulating the numbers, even with parliament but you see, he was caught off guard and these are top notch women who when they are given the opportunity, they pounce”.