NPP's 31st December Women Movement?

The issue of whether a women's nongovernmental organization (NGO), the United Women's Front (UNIWAF), founded and led by Ms. Theresa Tagoe, Deputy Minister of Works and Housing and New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament for Ablekuma South, is a 31st December Women's Movement in the making, came up at a Koforidua workshop to train women to contest in the next district assembly elections.

In view of the fact that its founder and president is a dyed-in-the-wool NPP member, many are those who suspect the non-partisan nature of UNIWAF.

When accosted, however, Ms. Tagoe swore that her organization was independent of the NPP or any other political party, for that matter.

"You would be surprised to know that the very member who evolved the name United Women's Front, and another members, who is the treasurer, are not NPP members, or even sympathizers," Ms. Tagoe told the Chronicle.

UNIWAF had organized a training workshop for more than 60 participants drawn from Southern Ghana last week.

It seeks funds from donor organizations to sensitize more women elsewhere to take up local government responsibilities, Chronicle was told.

At the workshop itself, Hadjia Alima Mahama, Deputy Minister of Local Government, called on the participants to turn themselves into trainers to sensitize hundreds more on the need to enter the local government assemblies and other fora.

"If we take our participation in the area councils and other lower structures seriously, come 2008, we shall have some more women in Parliament," she said, indicating the height of vision for her fellow women.

She pointed out that although the goals of the local authorities, such as the collection of market tolls, provision of health and education, improvement of food and agriculture, are issues that concern women more than men, the representation of women in the assemblies remains abysmally low.

According to the Deputy Minister of the about 7,700 members of the 110 assemblies nationwide, only 5% or some 385, are women. As a result, women's concerns and perspectives towards problem-solving are poorly articulated, or even ignored, she said.