NO WOMAN NO CRY: A NEW DAY FOR GHANAIAN WOMEN

In less than 20 days since he assumed office as the president of Ghana, John Atta Mills is giving us indication of the direction of his government. Despite the fact that the work of the transition is incomplete, tremendous pressure is being exerted on the newly elected president to fix problems. I have observed with a lot of interest how a section of the media is quick to proclaim that there should be no Presidential honey moon for the president. Arthur Kennedy, a political gadfly in the opposition New Patriotic Party or rather “Nation Plunderers Party,” depending on how you view the recent reports of near plunder by the previous government, had the discourtesy to describe the new president’s progress in work as very slow, and that came in less than a week after the president was inaugurated. Arthur Kennedy said Prof. Mills had hit the road crawling instead of running. Obviously that was not too surprising because politically, Arthur Kennedy is a novice. For someone to be communications director for a presidential candidate as heavy as Nana Akuffo Addo, in a party as big as the NPP and not be aware that by tradition you do not attack your opponent in the “presidential honeymoon period” is laughable.

The presidential honeymoon period by definition is a moment when the opposition refrains from attacks as a measure of goodwill to a newly inaugurated president . Arthur Kennedy’s partisan attacks on John Atta Mills simply speaks of someone who does not understand the rules of the game. It is just like in soccer where, when an opponent is down and the referee whistles for a stoppage, there is a goodwill gesture to be observed by both sides when play resumes.

Maybe, as a politics and law student myself, i should share my political science notes with Arthur Kennedy and the many gadflies/critics in the NPP who simply are in the wrong profession ostensibly for the wrong reasons and do not even take the time to learn about the “rules of engagement.”

And again, just like in soccer, one needs time to settle into a game, analyze the game again before making moves except that this is politics and not soccer. It is not for nothing that many democracies have quite a good number of days between elections and inauguration, this is to allow an incoming administration find its feet. Even so, lots of politicians all over the world are allowed the luxury of what has become know us the first 100 Days in office from which the direction of their government is to be measured.

According to a professor in History and Public Affairs at Princeton University’s Woodraw Wilson School, Professor Julian E. Zelizer, the notion of the first 100 Days in office is “an artificial creation of Franklin Roosevelt after he became US president in 1932 in the Great Depression. But it became a benchmark for evaluating the early success of a president.”

Nana Akuffo Addo undoubtedly has a great wealth of experience as a politician even though he is very brusque. Did you hear how he got angry at a press conference? He would have made a very good politician but for his brusqueness. Maybe he is still reeling from the wounds of losing an election but brusqueness which seem to be his jolly hobby. Now that he surreptitiously want to lead the NPP again, his demeanor till the next time when the NPP decides on who should be their next leader would certainly be scrutinized and his minders should have him put that in check. For now, he is just unrepentant and that is going to continuously dog his fortunes of ever getting close to becoming a minister. Perhaps a Senior Minister portfolio in say 2025 when Ghanaian voters feel they have punished the NPP enough.

From the look of things in the John Atta Mills administration, the new president is steadily endearing himself to the majority of Ghanaians who feel the inclusion of women in very key positions is a step in the right direction.

Ghana does not only have a woman Speaker of Parliament, it now has a Chief Justice appointed in the previous regime, an Attorney General and Minister of Justice - if parliament approves Betty’s nomination, a Tourism and National Orientation Minister and a Trade and Industry Minister all subject to approval from parliament.

What better time to be a woman in Ghana? We can only eat our hearts out for our counterparts in the opposite gender, but clearly, Ghanaian women have earned it. The time is ripe for our women to be raised higher. Their elevation is a difficult assignment and one that would be compared to that of their male counterparts. So they have to be good.

It is an exciting time for Ghana and more so for our women who are rightly the most exalted in this new administration. Our wives, mothers and sisters are certainly the most abused in our communities. They are the first to rise up and the last to go to bed. We have all forms of useless cultural practices including religion, which mainly oppress women. Whilst many of our women are spending their live’s savings on the upkeep and well being of their children, their male counterparts are spending theirs on frivolity and young girls. It is a monumental boost for our women and i trust they would live up to the task. Like Rosa Parks, who ignited the civil rights movement in America, like Yaa Asantewaa who led a battalion of fearful men to battle against the imperialists, like Nzingah the warrior Queen of Matamba in Angola, like Nanny – a Jamaican National Conqueror and fierce Maroon woman fighter, like Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings who spearheaded women's activism, like Winnie Madikizela Mandela who was unabatedly harassed and subjected to brutality alongside her male counterparts in the struggle to free South Africa from the perils of apartheid, like Hawa Yakubu – another sterling feminine activist – and the many women all over Azania, known and unknown, we hope they would cope with the pressures and deliver the goods. This is their best chance to make true the arguments over having a female president for Ghana. This is a turning point for our democracy and thanks to Professor Mills, we are really showing Africa and the rest of the world something.

Ras Mubarak

mmubarak79@yahoo.com