‘Encourage more women to take leadership positions’
A lecturer at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Dr Isaac Owusu-Mensah, has challenged women’s groups in the country to lead a planned and sustained crusade to encourage more women to take up leadership positions, especially in national politics.
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This, he explained, was necessary to ensure that the current number of 30 women in Parliament and those in frontline politics could be increased for their voices to be heard in the country.
Dr Owusu-Mensah was speaking on behalf of the Country Representative of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), Dr Gregor Ryssel, at the 9th triennial delegates conference of the Christian Mothers Association (CMA) of Ghana in Kumasi.
The CMA
Established by some nuns and highly spirited women in the Catholic Church in the early 1940s, the CMA, Ghana, is a national women non-governmental organisation (NGO). It is committed to offering a holistic ministry to women, to make them well organised, self-reliant, self-sustaining and able to support the family upkeep.
It is also aimed at ensuring that women know their civic rights and responsibilities and be part of decision making at all levels.
The CMA operates in 17 out of the 18 dioceses in Ghana and has a current active membership of over 35,000 women.
He said in a country where women constituted more than half of the population, there was the need for more women to be involved in Ghana’s leadership and political process, since their involvement in national politics was necessary in the nation’s development.
The four-day conference on the theme “You too go into my vineyard” brought together delegates from various dioceses of the Catholic Church across the country.
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The lecturer challenged women not to feel shy or intimidated, but to rise and take up the mantle and go into politics to serve their communities and the nation at large.
Commendation
The Bishop of the Kumasi Archdioceses of the Catholic Church, Most Rev. Gabriel Justice Yaw Anokye, in a keynote address, commended the women for their role and support towards evangelisation and development of the Catholic Church in the country.
He urged them to avoid any acts of discrimination against one another and unite, work as a team to promote the teachings of Christ and issues in relation to their development and the nation as a whole.
Most Rev. Anokye called on them to network with individuals, groups and organisations to do the right things in the name of the Lord.
Mrs Yvonne Nduom, wife of the 2012 Progressive People’s Party (PPP) presidential candidate, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, who chaired the function, challenged women to let the proper upbringing of their children be their priority and ensure that they were brought up in a Godly way with good moral values.
The National President of the Association, Mrs Cecilia Quansah, in her address, said documentation for the association’s headquarters land at Okushiebiade had been completed and that the sod-cutting ceremony would be performed soon.
She announced that the association had invested GH¢50,000 with the Gold Coast Securities as a form of investment for the association’s financial growth.