I dread fewer female Legislators in next parliament – Ursula

Member of Parliament for Ablekuma West Ursula Owusu Ekuful has said it is a shame that Ghana prides itself as being at the forefront of the democratic experiment when only 10 per cent of its MPs are women.

Speaking on Women’s Manifesto on Class 91.3FM Tuesday July 11, she feared that the next parliament will not see an improvement but a decline in the number of women in parliament.

“It’s so shameful when Ghana prides itself as being in the forefront of the democratic experiment on the African continent. When it comes to the way we relate to our women, we are doing so badly. People will say we have 30 women in parliament, 30 out of 275, it's still around 10 per cent, we really haven’t done much. Since 1960, what are we going to do differently? And I agree with you that we have lobbied, we have cajoled, we have threatened, we have pleaded, we have wept, we have been beaten, we have done the advocacy, we have done the sensitisation, we have done it all. I am terrified that in our next parliament if we are not careful, we will not even have 30 women there. The 30 that we have now, the numbers will reduce if we are not careful,” she told host Awurama Bennin.

Meanwhile, Progressive People’s Party (PPP) parliamentary candidate for Klottey Korle Madam Eva Lokko has said none of the portions of the Women’s Manifesto has been implemented. This, according to her, is because the people in charge of the manifesto are not ready to relinquish their authority.

The Women's Manifesto for Ghana is a political statement by Ghanaian women demanding rights and equality.

“This manifesto was launched long ago, in fact I was privileged enough to be asked to launch that manifesto. If you read it, it makes sense but where has any of the things that was written found their way in practical terms? …We are all women, we all know portions of this manifesto. Some people know it from first chapter to the last chapter. Where has it gotten us? Because the people who are in charge are not ready to relinquish their power and their authority and we are saying let’s sit down and let's them give quotas, they are not going to do it. We have to get up by the bullet and stand up for our right and demand our right in a polite but firm way. So we really need to sit up as women if we want things to change; we have to look at gender in a different light altogether,” she stated.