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Opinions of Tuesday, 19 August 2014

Columnist: Maxwell Okamafo Addo

Lordina Mahama raising the bar for humanity in Ghana

Inevitably, to become a First Lady of a country is to step into a role that is subject to public scrutiny whether that role is formal or informal

Since Lordina Mahama, became the First Lady of the Ghana she has proved beyond reasonable doubt that she is a woman who has milk of human kindness flowing in her veins.

She is a woman that loves and cares for others. She does not allow the pride of being the wife of the Chief Executive of the country to becloud her sense of reasoning. Her human relations with other women and children in Ghana has shown that she does not see herself different from others.

In accordance with her religious belief and her personal principle, Lordina Mahama does not believe in class differences. She sees everybody as been equal before God. This perhaps account for why she is respected by all in Ghana.

As a demonstration of her love for the less privileged in society, she has visited a lot Orphanages/ Less Privileged schools in the country and believes that the less privileged need to be catered for, and has always expressed her readiness to ensure their welfare to make them feel they are part of the society, so she continues to reach out.

In her usual magnanimity to the needy, the wife of the President is a woman who believe that only her cannot sit in the office and solve the problems affecting women, children and the less privileged. She believes in team work by interacting with other sympathy visits to families that lost their beloved ones in Ghana.

The Lordina foundation is a project that enhances health promotion and advocacy and encourage women employment through capacity building and sustained income generation among other benefits that has made her a woman who listens, love and care for others especially the less privileged, children and women.

A look at her work through the Lordina Foundation shows that the foundation has helped in areas such as orphanage support, support for Persons Living with HIV/AIDS, Scholarships for brilliant but needy students, promoting women’s empowerment through entrepreneurship, raising awareness and advocating for cervical and breast cancer prevention and treatment.

The foundation is also providing suitable accommodation for ostracized women in “Witch Camps and still goes to the aid of the weak, sick and lass privileged in society. According to her, the multiplier effects of such philanthropic gestures will help many indigent people in the society to become self-reliant in addition to creating employments for others.

The Lordina Foundation with support from the Chinese Government has offered scholarship to 21 Ghanaian brilliant but needy students to study in China. It is said that the scholarship to the students by China is the second highest on the continent all these were done by the effort of the First Lady

The First Lady is never tired of assisting the less-privileged in society. Apart from giving out free gifts to the less-privileged, Mrs.Mahama has facilitated a lot of programmes in the country to enable the youths and women to be trained in various trades.

However society set certain standards by which people are measured and it is the conviction of every Ghanaian that if the nation cannot bequeath to it people and our children who are the future leaders anything at all, It must at least bequeath to them as a people a high sense of morality, uprightness and humility, that is what the President Mahama and the wife represents.

Recently the First Lady was invited to the Bush Institute at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, the White House, and the U.S. Department of State hosted the forum for African Leaders’ Spouses where she championed the cause for women and children. Ghana’s current First Lady Lordina Mahama is a complete embodiment of the 21st century woman. She is articulate, well-composed and focused with her major initiatives of positioning herself as the guardian of the Ghanaian family values and also a moral leader for the country’s youth leading a campaign to help combat the HIV/AIDS menace in the country and the continent.

The first Lady is described by the less privileged in society as an honest and intelligent woman-” a great mother and a comforter”. She is described by many as a source of encouragement in her advocacy for health, Education, peace and unity in the country. Ghana’s First lady, Lordina Mahama have received recognition from development partners and organizations in the USA and across the globe for her philanthropic work through the Lordina Foundation in Ghana and being active in helping in his husband’s social policy interventions such as the development of deprived children and women in both rural and urban areas of Ghana.

As a first Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, has been a very generous person who believes in the bond of a social contract with the citizenry. By extension, she has helped her husband, President John Dramani Mahama to continue to deliver the social contract that he has with Ghanaians, from his days as an MP for Bole Bamboi, Deputy Minster of Communication, Minister of Communication, Vice President of Ecowas Parliament, Vice President of the Republic of Ghana and currently the President of Ghana. Behind every successful man there’s a woman.

She has done extensive work in the areas of health, education, women’s empowerment, child protection for social change. She is currently the First Vice President of the Organisation of African First Ladies against AIDS (OAFLA) for West Africa.

As a woman of purpose the First Lady has done everything possible to redefine the office by adding value to humanity and has remained a stabilizing factor and rallying point for both the needy and defenseless by sacrificing for the common good of Ghanaians.

I must say the first Lady has done every thing possible to raise the bar for humanity which is remarkable and that Ghanaians are proud of her.