NDC launches women’s manifesto: Party will implement Affirmative Action law — Mahama
The Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has assured Ghanaians that the recently passed Affirmative Action Law will be fully implemented by his government if the party wins power in the upcoming December 7 elections.
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“We will increase women’s representation in Parliament, district assemblies and leadership roles across all sectors. We will do this not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because Ghana needs the best of its human resources,” he stated.
Former President Mahama said that when he launched the NDC’s Women’s Manifesto at the Great Hall, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi yesterday as part of the party’s agenda to unseat the ruling government through the polls.
He said by operationalising the Affirmative Action Act of 2024, “we will ensure that women hold at least 30 per cent of political appointments”.
Also, he said, the NDC, when voted into power, would pass the Property Rights of Spouses Bill, the Domestic Workers Bill, and the Intestate Succession (Amendment) Bill, to further solidify women’s rights and protections.
Women empowerment
The event gathered the party’s top women executives and officials to highlight the need for an inclusive women’s manifesto.
The party through the manifesto seeks to empower women and increase the voice of women if it wins the 2024 December elections with a vision that places the women of Ghana at the centre of national development and governance.
“Women play the most critical role in our society and the NDC’s “Resetting Ghana” Manifesto, launched on August 24, 2024, recognises this. We have made clear, in both policy and practice that our Ghanaian women are not just beneficiaries of development – they are the architects of development,” he said.
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Former President Mahama added “For us, the NDC, our mission is simple: Ghanaian women matter. Ghanaian women are partners in development. And our party has put forward proposals to ensure that women sit at the table of national decision-making, side by side with men”.
“This is not an empty promise; I have already shown my commitment through the nomination of a female running mate — a symbol of our inclusive and gender-balanced government,” he added.
The NDC flag bearer said: “Despite women’s significant contribution to our nation’s development, gender inequality remains pervasive, particularly in the informal sector, where 92 per cent of workers are women often without safety nets.
This is an important sector that contributes as much as between 30 to 40 per cent of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).”
The situation, Mr Mahama added, had exacerbated poverty among women, as highlighted by the 2020 Census: which he said indicated that of Ghana’s 7.3 million poor people, the majority that is 3.76 million were women, adding that nearly 54 per cent unemployed people in Ghana were women.
“Why should poverty have a female face in Ghana, with 1.44 million women classified as extremely poor, and living on less than $1.90 a day? Why should poverty have any face at all?
These numbers should not just shock us; they should spur us to act,” he stated, adding that these statistics indicated a painful story. Behind each number is a woman — perhaps a mother, a sister or a daughter — who works tirelessly every day but still goes to bed hungry.
The NDC flag bearer said: “These are the backbone of our communities; yet, they bear the heaviest burdens of inequality.”
“This must change,” he said and added, “Our ‘Resetting Ghana Manifesto’ offers bold solutions to address these challenges and that job creation is at the heart of our agenda”.
24-hour economy
Former President Mahama reiterated the fact that the NDC would implement a 24-hour Economy, creating opportunities for businesses to operate around the clock in three shifts, saying: “Instead of one person working one job as a singular shift, we shall now have for the same job, three people working in three shifts”.
The NDC presidential candidate said that “together with my Vice-President, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, in our first 120 days in office, we shall work with Parliament to begin drafting the legal framework for this 24-Hour Economy.”
“This is a concrete, actionable policy that will immediately begin to transform our economy. We will create the conditions for our youth and women to thrive, and we will do so with urgency,” he promised.
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The NDC’s flag bearer said the first 120 days would also see the licensing of the Women's Development Bank to make it operational with a $20 million seed money.
Former President Mahama added that the party’s policies would directly target unemployment and economic empowerment, saying the Women’s Development Bank would support women-owned businesses, while “our National Apprenticeship Programme will provide free Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) training to young people, especially women, in various trades”.
Also, he said the party’s policy of Digital Jobs Initiative would train one million people in coding, including women, ensuring that Ghanaian women were not left behind in the global digital economy.
The NDC would also come up with a market enhancement programme to provide market women with decent shelters to promote their businesses.
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Cancer screening
Mr Mahama added that women would also receive free screening yearly for cervical cancer and breast cancer to help halt the rate of deaths among women.
He also promised a 500-bed paediatric hospital with hostels for mothers to take care of their children who would be on admission at the facility.
Also, the former President said there would be a government-assisted fertility centre where women who found it difficult to conceive and could not afford the private hospitals, could receive care to conceive at minimal cost.
On maternity leave, he said should the NDC party win power, the labour law would be changed to ensure that women get four months of maternity leave so that they could take proper care of their children while fathers could also get paternity leave of one week.
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Mr Mahama said the next NDC government would uphold the 1992 Constitution to ensure that it would become a law where employers would not discriminate on what women have to wear, especially Muslims and Catholic nuns.