Tema, Aug. 23, GNA - Mrs Ernestina Naadu Mills, the First Lady, has commended the Girls' Brigade (GB) for its positive role in shaping the lives of young girls.

Making the commendation at the Third All Officers' Biennial Conference of the GB, in Tema, Mrs Mills observed that the formative years of the young in society impacted positively on who they become later on in life. The four-day conference, which began on Thursday, has "Faithfulness and Fruitfulness - Essential Tools for Effective Leadership," as its theme. She urged the participants to remain loyal and committed to the GB in order to shine as leaders.

The First Lady reminded them that their faith in Christ and in the organisation would lead them on to the path of success and fruitfulness. Mrs Mills urged them to let their leadership qualities lead to the mentoring of the young girls entrusted into their care. She advised them to lead humble, modest, caring and compassionate lives, by exhibiting effective leadership skills, adding, "effective leaders are those who are able to delegate responsibility, and supervise to achieve desired results."

The First Lady urged the leadership of the GB to empower the young girls to enable them to take over as leaders in future. "An effective leader is one who empowers others to function at their optimum best and in the process, put in place a succession plan for the growth of the group or organization."

She pointed out that those institutions which institute concrete succession plans "survive and grow, while those that do not do so, die." Mrs Mills entreated GB to take advantage of the multiplicity of media outlets in the country to publicize their activities. By so doing, she said, the organization would not only generate the needed public interest, but to also get more young girls to join it. She charged the organization to strive to attract more young girls into its fold, and inculcate in them Christian values so that in the process, these young ones would be given a brighter and more fulfilling future. The First Lady asked the GB to take advantage of the existing sponsorship opportunities from corporate bodies to support their activities.

She charged them to keep a solid database of girls who pass through their care, reminding them that with this kind of database, it would be easy for them to track the young girls to be continuously involved in the activities of the Brigade, to ensure a continuous and solid link between the past and the present.

Mrs Mills reminded them of their critical role in building a better Ghana, and pointed out that with a focused and determined leadership, the GB would grow from strength to strength.

Ms Akua Sena Dansua, Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, (MOWAC) whose speech was read for her, urged the leadership of the GB to continue to instil in young girls such useful virtues as chastity, self-control, honesty, diligence, respect for authority and elders, selflessness and good morals.

Ms Dansua regretted that leadership in the country appeared skewed towards the male gender, even though females constituted about 51 per cent of the total population.

She was of the view that the problem of disproportionate representation of men against women in almost every facet of life needed to be addressed without further delay if Ghanaians believe in the basic tenets of democracy, equity and equality. Ms Dansua pointed out that in spite of the various Legislative Instruments and Conventions, it was disheartening that many children are on the streets and often end up engaging in all forms of social vices and crimes.

She observed that the growing irresponsibility among parents in caring for their children had resulted in the increase in crime wave involving children of school-going age. "Certainly this is not what we want for our children either as parents or as a nation," the MOWAC Minister emphasized. She urged GB to expand its activities to benefit more girls in the northern regions to help arrest the problem of "kayayei", a form of irregular migration of girls down south from the north for economic prospects. The girls often end up being exploited and abused by unscrupulous people." Mrs Elizabeth Sawyerr, National President of GB, announced that their international conference would take place in Malaysia next year, and appealed to members to raise funds for sponsorship to enable Ghana to attend.