'Bagbin is a natural feminist' - Volta women lauds Speaker

Ghana’s highly revered Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has been accorded another accolade, this time by Ghanaian women who are appreciative of his promotion of women’s issues in the country.

Florence Kutsianu, a respected activist in the Volta Region has labelled the Speaker as a "natural feminist".

“We see how the Speaker has championed women’s issues in Parliament and spring to the defence of women anytime they come under attack,” Kutsianu a respected voice in the Keta Municipality said.

“For anybody who has the eyes to see, the Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin is, effortlessly, naturally, a feminist”, she added.

Florence Kutsianu was speaking to a group of journalists on the side of a social gathering at Keta Dzelukofe on Valentine’s Day when she conferred the accolade.

The interview centered on the Speaker’s indelible contributions to the development of the Volta Region, especially his contribution to the Keta sea defense project, when he was Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing under late President Mills.

Her accolade is about the fact that while Bagbin was the sector minister, he prioritized women’s economic opportunities in connection to the sea defense project.

According to her, the Speaker has since maintained his natural feminist inclinations.

“This has been clearly shown in the way he defended Adwoa Sarfo, MP for Dome Kwabenya when her prolonged sick leave from parliament had led to her
party, government, and other male colleagues to demand that she be dragged before the Privileges Committee even in absentia. The Speaker chose to rather defend her right to sick leave because he is sensitive to the peculiar challenges that women face. Suchlike sensitivity is what makes a person a feminist”, she said.

Florence Kutsianu also praised what she said is Bagbin’s challenge of the patriarchal status quo in Ghanaian civic life.

“I was elated when the MP for Dome Kwabenya expressed unhappiness about the Ghana pledge denoting Ghana as a “fatherland” and not a “motherland”
and the Speaker openly agreed with her. That was a vintage, feminist Bagbin for you,” she said.

On her part, Daavi Adjo Agbota of Kedzikofe in Keta was full of praise for Bagbin for what she said is the Speaker’s challenging stance against patriarchy by being the first high-profile politician to own a women’s soccer team.

“Through Hon. Bagbin’s example, the tendency for soccer to be seen as a masculine sport in Ghana is crumbling and such behaviour is very exemplary for all males, especially, the congenital chauvinists among us,” Daavi Agbota said.

Meanwhile, the two ladies used the opportunity to wish the Speaker a happy Valentine’s Day.