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Abantu urges journalists to promote gender equity
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Abantu for Development, a women centered NGO has underscored the need for aspiring journalists to familiarize themselves with gender-sensitive reporting from the onset of their career.
According to the group, the training of journalists must also focus more on raising awareness on gender issues because of its relevance in the society, especially in developing countries where women are often the driving change agents on the ground.
This call was made during a day’s workshop for female media practitioners held at the Yiri Lodge, Legon, Accra last week.
It was organised by Abantu for Development with support from the University of Bristol.
As a main component of the training, a historic film to challenge misrepresentation of women centered issues and gender activism in Ghana was screened for participants and learn and share their views.
The non-fictional film, titled “When Women Speak” directed by prominent film director, Ms Aseye Tamakloe featured powerful Ghanaian women including wife of the late former president of Ghana, Jerry John Rawlings, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, former editor of the Daily Graphic, member, Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT) Madam Ekua Ansah-Eshon, Executive Director Salt and Light Ministries, Ms Joyce Rosalind Aryee and Professor Dzodzi Tsikata, founding member, NETRIGHT.
The documentary challenges perceptions that Ghanaian women’s activism around existential and political issues was of more recent or originated from the western world.
It traces 16 women who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s and follows their experiences narrated in their own words, as Ghana passed through periods of military, single-party and multi-party rule.
Director, Abantu for Development, West Africa Region, Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin said women’s contribution towards development could not be underrated, adding that all women must join forces “so that our voices can be heard in every part of the world.”
She also called on men to join the fight for gender equity.
She also revealed that “When Women Speak” was available online for free on https/whenwomenspeakfilm.com.
On her part, a representative of the University of Bristol, Professor Kate Skinner commended participants for their input to the workshop, which she described as mind opening and hoped that the film would change negative perceptions about women empowerment in Ghana and the world at large.
Meanwhile journalists who benefitted from the workshop expressed gratitude to organisers for the training and assured that they would focus more on gender sensitive issues in their various news coverages.
BY RAISSA SAMBOU
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has urged the government to place all 54,985 candidates affected by the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) placement exercise in schools and publish the final outcome.
The party says the government must ensure that the affected candidates secure actual school places rather than merely being allowed to access the self-placement portal.
In a statement signed by the Chairman of the NPP Policy Co-ordination Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the party expressed concern about the situation facing the candidates.
The NPP said the government had announced that 53,887 of the affected candidates could use the self-placement system after initially being told that they had not qualified for secondary school.
It, however, argued that access to the portal did not guarantee that candidates would secure their preferred schools or programmes.
“Ghanaian parents and candidates will judge the resolution of the challenge by one thing only: how many of the original 54,985 are sitting in a classroom, not how many were allowed to open a website,” the statement noted.
The party said the government’s own figures showed that the country had 859,828 declared vacancies for 623,072 BECE candidates.
It explained that the main challenge was the concentration of demand in a small number of highly subscribed schools.
The NPP noted that 313,283 candidates selected Category A schools as their first choice, while those schools had 76,417 declared vacancies.
It therefore called on the government to explore ways to improve schools with available spaces, including providing teachers, laboratories and better programmes.
The party urged the government to use the 85 private schools participating in the Free SHS programme to absorb candidates who remained without placements.
The NPP further called for clarification of the rule and pass mark used for this year’s placement exercise, saying parents were entitled to know the standard before their children sat the examination.
It urged the government to take urgent action to ensure that the affected candidates were not left behind in the transition to secondary education.
By: Jacob Aggrey
General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Justin Kodua Frimpong, has filed his nomination to contest the position of General Secretary again as the party begins its rebuilding efforts ahead of the 2028 general elections.
He was accompanied by party stalwarts and supporters who were in high spirits, expressing confidence that he is the right person to hold the position.
Speaking after filing his nomination, Mr Kodua Frimpong assured the rank and file of the party that he would not disappoint them.
“I can assure you that the faith the rank and file of the party have had in me, I will never disappoint them,” he said.
He also pledged to run a clean campaign devoid of personal attacks.
“I can assure you that our internal campaign will be devoid of personal attacks,” he told his fellow contestants and the rank and file of the party as he seeks to retain his position.
His tenure has seen the party through the 2024 general elections, where the NPP lost power to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) after eight years in government.
The party is currently in a rebuilding phase, with internal elections scheduled to elect new national executives to lead its reorganization towards the 2028 polls.
The General Secretary position is considered one of the most influential in the party’s administrative structure, responsible for the day-to-day running of the party secretariat and implementation of party decisions.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
