News
Female Members of Parliament Undergo Affirmative Action Training in Ada
A two-day training workshop was organised by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to sensitise Ghanaian female Members of Parliament (MPs) on the Affirmative Action (AA) Law was held from May 6-7 2025.
The workshop held at the Aqua Safari Resort in Ada aimed at providing the MPs with lobbying skills, advocacy and the necessary tools for the act to be fully enforced.
Madam Kathleen Addy, Chairperson of the NCCE, opening the workshop, said the sensitisation was important for the female MPs to help materialise the benefits envisaged in the law.
Madam Addy said there were a lot of reforms to be made to help more women emerge as parliamentarians, citing Rwanda, where 64 per cent of its parliamentarians are females.
Madam Addy said the AA law must impress upon political parties to reserve a percentage of their parliamentary seats for women, an intervention she believes would make women part of policymaking.
She lamented that Ghana has 50 per cent of its population being women but only 14 per cent of women in Ghana’s parliament are women.
The MPs expressed satisfaction about the workshop, acknowledging that women have always been marginalised and less catered for.
The Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Hon. Ablah Dzifa Gomashie, and MP for Ketu South and a queen mother in the Aflao Traditional Area, said that a female child could equally be raised by her parents to perform tasks of all kinds, rather than segregating duties to be performed with gender identification.
She said aside what biologically identifies us as men and women, and may be our strength levels, every other thing can be done by both genders, adding that countries that have women in leadership are doing better than Ghana.
The MP for Salaga South, Madam Zuwera Mohammed Ibrahimah, added her voice and said the Affirmative Action Law, which was passed and assented to last year, would not be one of the many laws that are not in use.
According to her, female MPs would get themselves acquainted with the law, engage various stakeholders, and then disseminate an action plan to the citizenry to empower and encourage many women to accept leadership positions in the country.
Ghanaian media personality, entrepreneur and Convener for Women In Sustainability Africa (WiSA), Nana Yaa Serwaa Sarpong has advised women to build their capacity to make money, but must not do everything for it.
According to her, this will cater for their needs and rather than making them dependent on others.
In doing so, she advised them not to chase money, adding that it will only make them do anything for it, which will bring regrets later.
She made these remarks when speaking at the African Women’s Health and Wealth Conference (AWoHW) held on March 5, 2026, at the Shippers House in Accra.
“Women must make money but not chase it, because doing so will make them do anything and everything for money,” she said.
Also, she charged them to look at what they spend on, advising them to focus on acquiring assets rather than liabilities.
In all of these, she urged them to prioritise their health, because it is what will enable them to keep working.
Nana Yaa Serwaa also encouraged them to build more social capital, which will help them create a network and good relationships, adding that opportunities come through human beings.
According to her, savings can only be sustained when one has discipline: “If you spend beyond what you make, it would be difficult to cater for tomorrow.”
She revealed that as part of efforts to empower women, measures have been put in place to train 16,000 women in sustainable farming and very soon, it would be rolled out.
WiSA is a Coordinating Pan-African Organisation that works with other CSOs, NGOs, Corporate Institutions, local and International Development Organizations and individuals to bring all women, men, young people and women groups together (especially those at the grassroots level) to foster the achievement of the SDGs across Africa.
WiSA stands for the development of new perspectives and catalytic ideas towards accelerating growth for the achievement of the SDGs including closing the Gender Inequality gap.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
President John Dramani Mahama has arrived in the Republic South of Korea for a series of official engagements.
He is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with President Lee Jae Myung and meet with the Speaker of the National Assembly, Woo Won-shik.
President Mahama will also participate in a ship-naming ceremony at the Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard in Ulsan and deliver remarks at a conferment ceremony at Yonsei University.
Further engagements will include interactions with Ghanaians living, studying, and working in South Korea, as well as a dinner meeting with business leaders and chief executives aimed at promoting investment and strengthening economic ties between the two nations.
