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.
Minister for Government Communications, Felix Ofosu Kwakye, has dismissed claims that staff salaries at the Presidency have increased under the current administration, describing the allegation as a “flat lie”.
In a response to a post on Facebook, Ofosu Kwakye said the current staff at the Presidency inherited the same salaries and conditions approved for their predecessors.
He argued that once arrears owed to former Article 71 office holders are paid, the total wage bill for the current administration will actually be lower due to a reduction in staff numbers.
“It is in fact a mathematical certainty that the total amount paid in salaries to the current staff will be smaller compared to yours once your arrears are paid because of the reduction in numbers,” he stated.
The Minister noted that delays in paying arrears to past Article 71 office holders are not new.
“Arrears owed to past Article 71 office holders is nothing new or unheard of. Many others before you have suffered same,” he said.
Ofosu Kwakye also stressed that the salaries and conditions in question were approved by Parliament on 6th January 2025, under the previous government.
He pointed out that the Constitution bars any changes to those salaries until a new committee is set up to determine emoluments for Article 71 office holders under the new administration.
“No such committee has been set up by President Mahama and no alteration has been made,” he clarified.
“So on what basis, apart from pure lies and mischief, can a claim of ballooning be made?” he concluded.
The response follows public debate over the size and cost of the presidential staff, with critics alleging a spike in the wage bill.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi and the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, has initiated plea negotiations with the Attorney General’s office in the GH₵30 million Exim Bank fraud case.
Information available to ghanaiantimes.com.gh indicates that lawyers for Bernard Antwi Boasiako aka Chairman Wontumi & 2 other accused have formally written to the Attorney General to enter into plea negotiations on the charges of defrauding by false pretenses, money laundering, and intentionally causing financial loss to a public body.
A plea bargain, under Section 162C of the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (Act 1079), allows an accused person to plead guilty to lesser charges in exchange for a reduced sentence.
The agreement must be approved by the court after the Attorney General assesses factors such as the strength of evidence, recovery of state funds, and public interest.
Wontumi is facing four counts after his arrest by the Economic and Organised Crime Office in May 2025.
Prosecutors allege he used forged documents to secure a GH₵30 million facility from the Ghana Export-Import Bank to finance equipment for his mining company, Akonta Mining Ltd.
The state further charges him with money laundering and causing financial loss to the state.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and was granted GH₵50 million bail with two sureties. The case is currently before the Accra High Court.
The Attorney General’s office is yet to confirm whether negotiations will proceed.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
