International Migration Day: Migrants count

By Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

Today December 18, marks International Migration Day (IMD). Instituted by the United Nations' (UN), it is to recognise the efforts, contributions and rights of migrants worldwide.
A report by  the Global Commission on International Migration (2005), estimated that the number of international migrants increased from 75 million to about 200 million in the past 30 years and migrants could be found in every part of the world. The report also found that the migration could accelerate due to the growing developmental, demographic and democratic disparities that existed between different world regions. Moreover, migration is driven by powerful economic, social and political forces that governments need to acknowledge as a reality.
On December 4, 2000, the UN General Assembly, taking into account the large and increasing number of migrants in the world, proclaimed December 18 as IMD. A decade earlier on that day, the assembly adopted the international convention on the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families. Earlier celebrations of the day can be traced as far back as 1997 when some Asian migrant organisations marked December 18 as the day to recognise the rights, protection, and respect for migrants.
Each year, the UN invites governments, organisations and individuals to observe IMD by distributing information on the human rights and migrant’s fundamental freedoms. People are also invited to share their experiences and contribute to designing action plans to ensure their protection. Organisations actively involved in promoting the day include, Amnesty International, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the National Network for Immigrants and Refugee Rights.
For many people across the world, going away from their home town or region can be the best option or even the only to develop their standard of living. Migration can be an immensely contributing factor in improving the income, education and future prospects of children.But its value is somewhat even more: being able to opt where to stay as a key component of human freedom. Nurses, social workers, writers, political refugees, carpenters, construction workers, academics and computer professionals are all part of the around 1 billion people on their heels both within their native countries and abroad.
When people move out of their native country they embark on a journey of uncertainty, hope within or across the international fences. Most people migrate in the look out of better prospects, hoping to add to their own potential with infrastructures and resources in the destination nation. Local societies or regional organisations as a whole are also the beneficiaries both in native places and at destinations nations.
The multicultural background of these individuals and the policies that regulate their movement make human mobility one of the most perplexed issues that the world is facing today. IMD is celebrated with an objective to incorporate the key interest of migrants and their communities on the agenda, and highlight the threats they encounter and enjoy their achievements. The Day is envisioned initially as an opportunity to identify the contributions made by myriads of migrants to the flowing economies of their home and host nations, and to develop respect for their fundamental human rights.
Celebrating the day provides an opportunity to identify the contributions made by thousands of migrants to the progress and prosperity of number of nations around the world; to curb all kinds of violence and abuse faced by the migrants and their family members and advocate respect for their primary human rights; to request governments around the world to refine the UN Convention on Migrant Workers; to make the governments responsible for the fundamental rights of migrants.
According to the IOM, which is the world's largest agency dealing with migration, the evacuation of more than 200,000 migrant workers from Libya in 2011 focused world attention on the plight of tens of thousands of migrant workers, mainly from low-income, developing countries, who found themselves swept up by the political upheaval, without money, jobs, documentation or any means of getting home to their families.
The IOM observed that the marginal status in Libya and obvious vulnerability touched a chord with international donors who stepped in to help agencies including IOM and UNHCR to mount a massive repatriation operation. They included the World Bank, which funded a $10 million IOM airlift of 35,000 migrants to Bangladesh.
The crisis according to the IOM highlighted the fact that conflicts and man-made or natural disasters could impact already vulnerable migrants resulting in humanitarian crises. 
The evacuation of migrants from Libya was a remarkable humanitarian achievement but it was a job half done. While we recognised the reintegration needs of returning Bangladeshi and worked with the government and the World Bank to meet them, we failed to recognise the needs and well-being of other migrants who returned empty-handed to economically depressed and food insecure countries such as Chad and Niger, says IOM Director General, Mr  William Lacy Swing. 
“Crises can result in complex and often unpredictable short and long term population flows. These bring with them a raft of challenges that the international community needs to address comprehensively. They include the protection of vulnerable migrants from crisis-related violence and exploitation in their host country, and in transit, and their safe and sustainable reintegration once they get home,” he notes. 
The IOM’s Migration Crisis Operational Framework, which was officially endorsed by the Organisation’s governing Council on November 27, aims to institutionalise IOM’s capacity to respond to migration crises and to address some of the gaps that currently exist with regard to migration in international humanitarian systems.
It seeks to help states to fulfill their responsibility to assist and protect mobile populations, because migrants are more likely to be subject to hardship, human rights violations and discrimination in crisis situations. “Finding humane and effective solutions to the complex and multi-faceted challenges of crisis-related migration flows requires strong partnerships between international organisations, states and a variety of non-state actors, including NGOs, the media, the private sector, religious groups and transnational diaspora communities,” says Mr Swing.  “We all share a responsibility to protect the human rights of all people on the move,”  he added.
As the world celebrates IMD today, the IOM calls on the international community, and in particular migrant sending and receiving countries, to recognise the implications of crises for migrants and their families left behind and act to mitigate both the short and long term consequences.    

Eliminating child labour is key to development

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE last Ghana Child Labour Survey (GCLS) 2001 conducted by the Statistical Service of Ghana and published in 2003, reveals that 39 per cent of an estimated population of 6.3 million Ghanaian children aged 5-17 years were engaged in economic activities classified as child labour.
According to the survey, 17 per cent of these child labourers (1,031,220) were below 13 years and more than 242,000 of them were engaged in hazardous child labour.
Ghana ratified the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Convention 182 at its 87th session in June 1999 with various interventions undertaken with support from the ILO- International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), by international and local NGOs.
International agencies such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and International Organisation for Migration have also made positive efforts to address the problem.
All these have resulted in the development of policies and legislations and the implementation of actions in identifying, withdrawing and rehabilitating children in various Worst Forms of Child Labour (WFCL).
However, these efforts have not yet resulted or met the set goals.
It is against this background that the Virginia State University and the Leadership Advocacy for Women’s Advancement (LAWA) in collaboration with the Ledzekuku Krowor Municipal Directorate of Education organised a day’s workshop for over 190 girls education facilitators and guidance and counselling coordinators in the municipality to help curb child labour in the municipality.
The workshop was on the theme: “Excessive child exploitation: Measures to increase school participation in the lives of children living with other families”.
A lecturer from the Virginia State University, Dr Nana Derby, said she was inspired to undertake the project of re-uniting children with their parents as a way of ensuring that they got better care in terms of educational and health needs.
According to her, the project has so far united 320 children in the Central and Eastern regions where their parents are also given start-up capitals to ensure that they become self sufficient.
Another 80 children, she said, were being prepared to be re-united with their parents as part of the project, saying that so far, assemblymen and social welfare officers in districts where the project was on-going have been trained to monitor parents to ensure that they do not give their children out again.
The children, she said, have also been given uniforms and other educational materials and their school fees have been paid in full to ensure that they stay in school.
She was of the view that more needed to be done to help children in such situations as people especially the affluent in society see the issue of housemaids as societal practice which needed not to be broken.
According to her, she was disappointed in some organisations which although are supposed to be humanitarian in nature, see her idea of eliminating child labour in homes as breaking the country’s culture.
The Chairperson of LAWA Ghana, Mrs Sheila Minkah Premo, said the constitutional requirement of ensuring that school aged children were put in school should be enforced in the country so that they can go through formal basic education.
Also she called for the enforcement of the provision in the Children’s Act which enjoins parents to send their children to school.
Mrs Minkah Premo whose address was delivered by Mrs Barbara Ayesu also called on teachers to monitor parents to ensure that they did the right thing by sending their children to school and give them the required environment to study.
She also called on parents to desist from using children in performing hazardous task, saying that although the labour laws allowed children to work at age 15, it prevented them from doing hazardous work.
The Director of Education of the Ledzekuku Krowor Municipal Assembly (LEKMA), Mrs Rosetta Addison Sackey, said child labour was an issue that needed to be eliminated from communities and pointed out that it hindered the progress of the child.
The LEKMA educational directorate has put in place measures that would ensure that child labour was eliminated from the municipality and that children were given the needed education that they required to excel in life.
The Guidance and Counselling Coordinator, LEKMA, Mr Roland Takyi, who spoke to the participants on skills needed to identify children in child labour and how they can help such children, called on them to ensure that they collaborated with relevant government agencies such as the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service and other non-governmental and child rights agencies such as the Ark Foundation and the Child’s Right International to help the children.
According to him, due to some cultural practices, children are used in homes as house helps with the intention that they would be sent to school but such children end up not going to school or being used for chores that does not promote their well-being.
Some children, he said, were abused sexually, physically, emotionally and psychologically which sometimes go undetected.
As counsellors, he called on them to be observant, caring, sensitive to the children that they handled, saying that it was only when they opened-up to the children that they could confine in them.
Mr Takyi however told them to be on the lookout at all times, saying that sometimes, a single indicator such as a cut on a childs finger could not be used as a pointer to abuse.
The Greater Accra Regional Girls Educational Officer, Ms Gertrude Simpi Amuzu, called on the teachers to help in the campaign against the use of children as street hawkers so that they can have time to study their books.
She also called on the teachers to also encourage parents so that they allow the children to study.

30 Women MP aspirants sail through keenly contest

Article: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

The anxiety and uncertain clouds that surrounded the gains of female aspirants in the polls can now be assuaged as 30 women from all the ten regions have so far successfully sailed through in the just ended keenly contested parliamentary election.
The regional breakdown is Eastern 3, Greater Accra 8, Central Region 4, Ashanti Region 4, Volta Region 4, Brong Ahafo Region 2, Western, Northern, Upper East and Upper West one each.
Subsequently Ghana’s next parliament is set to have more women since the beginning of the Fourth Republic which started in 1992.
Since independence, the 2012 parliament will go down in history as the one with the most women.
In the First Republic, which started from 1960 to February 14, 1966, Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, introduced an affirmative action which saw 10 women being elected into the 104 all-male parliament.
In 1965, a similar affirmative action by Dr Nkrumah sought to increase the number of women to 19 but his reign was truncated mid-way.
The Second Republic started from 1969 to 1972 and there was only one woman in the 140 seat parliament.
The Second Republic was overthrown by I.K. Acheampong who ruled from 1972 to 1979.
In the Third Republic, which was under Dr Hilla Limann from 1979 to December 31, 1981, there were five women in the 140 seat parliament.
The Fourth Republic started from 1992 and there were 16 women in its first Parliament of 200 members while the second parliament of the Fourth Republic with 200 members, started from 1996 with 18 women.
The third parliament of the Fourth Republic (2000-2004) had 19 women in the 200 seat parliament, and the Fourth Parliament of the Fourth Republic (2004-2008) with 230 members has had the highest number of women (25) in Parliament.
The 230 member House constituting the fifth parliament of the fourth republic in 2008 saw the number of women representative dropping to 20 and further dipping to 19 after one member, Mrs. Doris Asibi Seidu, former MP for the Chereponi Constituency died.
Female representative in the 275-member House which will be the sixth parliament will see a further increase to 29 representatives.
A total of 133 women who contested in this year’s parliamentary elections represent a 30 per cent increase in that of 2008 figure of 104 women contesting and it is the highest number of women who have contested parliamentary seats in Ghana’s political history.
Some MPs like NPP’s Catherine Afeku and Samia Yaaba Nkrumah of the CPP all from the Western Region were casualties while some veterans such as Mary Boforo and Gifty Klenam, managed to win their seats.
Out of the 133 women aspirants, Greater Accra region fielded the highest number of 34, followed by Ashanti 26, and Central 15. The rest are western and Eastern 12, Volta 10, Northern 7, Brong Ahafo 6, Upper East 6 and Upper West 5.
The Greater Accra produced the most female representatives of eight from the Ablekuma West Constituency, which was one of the 45 newly created constituencies and was won by Ms Ursula Owusu for the NPP, the Ledzokuku seat which is also new and was won by Mrs Benita Okity-Duah of the NDC, the newly created Weija constituency won by Ms Rosemund Comfort Abrah on the ticket of the NPP, the Dome/Kwabenya seat won by the NPP’s Ms Sarah Adwoa Safo, Ada was won by Ms Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe Ghansah of the NDC, Anyaa Sowutuom was won by Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey who the NPP’s incumbent MP for the area and Ms Irene Naa Torshie Addo retained the Tema West seat for the NPP.
The reason for the Greater Accra’s high number can be attributed to it being the capital, cosmopolitan in nature and also having relatively more educated people.
The Central, Ashanti and Volta regions produced four MPs each. In the Central Region Ms Queenstar Pokua Sawyerr of the NDC won the Agona East seat, Ms Hanna Serwaa Tetteh of the NDC won the Awutu Senya West seat, Ms Racheal Florence Appoh won the Gomoa Central seat for the NDC and Ms Georgina Nkrumah Aboah of the NDC also won the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa seat.
The Ashanti Region had Ms Patricia Appiagyei of the NPP winning the Asokwa seat, Ama Pomaa Andoh won the Juaben seat for the NPP, Ms Elizabeth Agyeman retained the Oforikrom seat for the NPP and the Manso Nkwanta seat was won by Ms Grace Addo of the NPP.
Those who won in the Volta Region are; Mrs Juliana Azumah-Mensah of the NDC who was re-elected but to the newly created Agotime Ziope seat, Hohoe constituency was won by Dr Mrs Bernice Adiku Heloo of the NDC, Ms Helen Ajoa Ntoso won for the NDC to represent the people of Krachi West and the Kpando Constituency was won by the NDC’s Dellah Sowah.
The Brong Ahafo Region is represented by Ms Freda Prempeh, Tano North and Dr. Hanna Louisa Bisiw, Tano South.

Freda Prempeh, new MP

The Eastern Region had three women winning from Abirem represented by the NPPs Esther Obeng Dapaah an incumbent, Ms Abena Osei Asare representing the newly created Atiwa East seat for NPP and incumbent Ms Gifty Klenam of the NPP representing Lower West Akim.
The Western, Northern, Upper East and Upper West had one female each who are incumbent MP for Tarkwa Nsuaem’s Gifty Eugenia Kusi of the NPP, Hajia Laadi Ayii Ayamba of the NDC won the Pusiga seat, Mary Salifu Boforo of the NDC won the Savelugu seat and Ms Sulamana Alijata won the Sisala East seat for the NDC by beaingt the PNC’s Moses Dani Baah who was the incumbent MP, and the NPP’s Sahaku Amidu Chinnia who was her closest contender.
It is expected that the new faces like former DCE of Sissala East, Ms Alijata Sulemana, Ms Hannah Bissiw, Works and Housing Deputy Minister, and Ms Ursula Owusu who have distinguished themselves in their respective careers together with the 'veterans’, would advance the cause of women in the House.

30 Women go to Parliament

Article: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
The number of female representation in Parliament has increased from 19 to 30 in the just-ended parliamentary elections. This constitutes an increase from the current 8.7 per cent in the 230-member Parliament to 10.5 per cent in the yet-to be inaugurated sixth parliament of the Fourth Republic, January 2013.
The two major political parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have increased their female representations in parliament. While the ruling NDC increased its members by nine, the NPP, however, increased by just one.
In the 2008 Parliament, the NDC had five women but today the party is being represented by 14 women in the House, while the number of women in the 2008 Parliament was increased from 14 to 15 after this year’s December 7 elections.
Out of the five old parliamentarians, Mrs Juliana Azuma-Mensah formerly MP for Ho East who has been in the House since January 2005 was re-elected as MP for the newly created Agotime Ziope and Hajia Mary Salifu Boforo, MP for Savelugu who has been in the House since January 1997 also retained the seat for the fourth consecutive time.

Mary Boforo, MP

Hajia Rafatu Halutie Dubie Alhassan, MP Sissala East; Ms Akua Sena Dansua, MP North Dayi and Mrs Elizabeth Amoah-Tetteh, MP Twifo-Atii Morkwaa are not going back to the House as they lost their parties primaries.
The NDC is bringing into the House new faces such as Dr Hanna Louisa Bisiw, Deputy Minister for Water Resources Works and Housing; Ms Queenstar Pokua Sawyerr, Agona East; Ms Rachel Florence Appoh, Gomoa Central; Ms Helen Adjoa Ntoso, Krachi West and Ms Georgina Nkrumah Aboah, Asikuma Odoben Brakwa.
Others are Mrs Benita Sena Okity-Duah, Ledzokuku; Dr Mrs Bernice Adiku Heloo, Hohoe; Ms Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe Ghansah, Ada; Ms Hanna Tetteh one-time MP in the third parliament is coming back as MP for newly created Awutu Senya West and Hajia Laadi Ayii Ayamba, Pusiga.
The rest are Sulamana Alijata, Sissala East and Ms Dellah Sowah, Kpando.
The NPP also lost a number of its ‘old hands’ and will send to the House new faces including Ms Freda Prempeh, Tano North, Ms Ama Pomaa Andoh, Juaben, Ms Patricia Appiagyei, Asokwa; Ms Ursula Owusu, Ablekuma West and Ms Abena Osei Asare, Atiwa East.
Others are Ms Adwoa Safo, Dome/Kwabenya and Ms Rosemond Comfort Abrah, Weija.
The NPPs ‘old hands’ who are going back to the House are Ms Esther Obeng Dapaah who has been in the House since January 2005 as MP for Abirem; Ms Gifty Klenam, MP for Lower West Akim since January 2009; Ms Grace Addo, formerly MP for Amansie West but now MP for the newly created Manso Nkwanta Constituency; Gifty Eugenia Kusi, Tarkwa Nsuaem has been an MP since January 2001; Elizabeth Agyeman, Oforikrom MP since January 2005 and Ms Elizabeth Sackey, Okaikwei North who has been in the House since January 2005, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey is currently the MP for Anyaa Sowutuom but has been in the House as MP for Weija since January 2005 and Ms Irene Naa Torshie Addo, MP Tema West since January 2009.

Gifty Eugenia Kusi, MP

The MPs who are not returning to the House are Mrs Gifty Ohene-Konadu, MP for Asante-Akim South who lost in her party’s primaries, Ms Cecilia Abena Dapaah MP Bantama did not contest, Ms Beatrice Bernice Boateng, MP New Juabeng South also lost in her party’s primaries, Mrs Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, MP for Ayawaso West-Wuogon and Mrs Catherine Abelema Afeku, MP Evalue-Gwira.
The CPPs only MP, Ms Samia Yaba Christiana Nkrumah, MP for Jomoro, also lost her seat after serving for one term.

More women go to parliament- After 2012 elections in Ghana

Story: Salome Donkor & Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

SOME female sitting MPs have retained their seats, while others have suffered defeats in the parliamentary elections, with some new female MPs elected.
Ghana's 230 seat parliament had only 19 women but after the 2012 general elections, the House which currently has 275 constituency seats has 29 female MPs.
Key among those who have lost their seats are the New Patriotic (NPP) Member of Parliament for Evalue-Gwira, Mrs Cathrine Afeku Abelema, who lost the seat to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, Mr Kweku Tamekyi Kessie, who polled 14,096 votes to win the seat. Mrs Afeku had 11,651 votes.
The lone Convention People’s Party (CPP) Member of Parliament for Jomoro, Samia Yaba Nkrumah, lost her seat when Wing Commander Francis Anaman, a retired Officer of the Ghana Airforce, fought to re-capture the seat for the National Democratic Party. He polled 21,651 votes as against 18,110 by the incumbent MP, Madam Samiah Yaaba Nkrumah.

Samia Yaaba Nkrumah-OUT

 The Jomoro seat has been occupied by the National Democratic Party (NDC) since 1992 until Madam Yaaba Nkrumah captured it from the party after beating the NDC candidate, Mr Lee Ocran in 2008.
The people of Jomoro massively voted for Madam Yaaba Nkrumah in 2008. 
Ms Irene Naa Torshie Addo of the NPP retained her seat in the Tema West  Constituency, with 39,950 as against 39,005 votes obtained by the NDC candidate, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development. Madam Elizabeth K. Tawiah Sackey polled 27,176 votes to retain the Okaikwei North seat by beating the NDC candidate Mr  Abdul Nasiru Abass, who polled 25,255 votes. 
Ms Hannah Tetteh also won the Awutu Senya West seat for the NDC by polling 23,032 as against her closest contender Mr Oppey Abbey of the NPP who polled 18,487. Ms Tetteh was the MP in 2004 but did not contest in 2008.
Ms Gifty Klenam of the NPP also retained her seat in the Lower West Akim constituency by polling 26,663 to beat her closest rival of the NDC who also polled 18,225.
Ms Esther Obeng Dapaah is also going back to parliament on the ticket of the NPP for the Abirem Constituency as she polled 17,347 votes as against her other female contender, Ms Mavis Ama Frimpong of the NDC who polled 14,515.
The Oforikrom seat was retained by the incumbent, Ms Elizabeth Agyeman, on the ticket of the NPP with 68,812 votes to beat Mr Amidu Gariba of the NDC who polled 29,393.
Ms Gifty Eugenia Kusi, a first Deputy Minority Whip, retained the Tarkwa Nsuaem seat for a third term with 37,816 votes in a close contest against another female contender from the NDC, Ms Christina Kobina, who pulled 33,130 votes.
The Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs, Mrs Juliana Azumah-Mensah of the NDC was also reelected as the MP for Agotime Ziope as she polled 14,485 votes to beat the NPP candidate Mr David Yaoga Sunu who had 1,935 votes.

Juliana Azumah-Mensah- RETAINED

Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchway won the newly created Anyaa Sowutuom seat with 51,196 votes while the NDC’s Ms Sedina Tamakloe-Ationu had 29,536.
Hajia Mary Salifu Boforo, one of the long-serving females retained the NDC Savelugu seat by stretching her NPP contender when she polled 18,946 votes against 1,503 of the NPP’s Muhammed Abdul-Samed Gunu.
New entrants include Dr Hanna Louisa Bisiw, Deputy Minister for Water Resources Works and Housing,  who won the Tano South Constituency by polling 19,236 to snatch the seat from the incumbent Andrews Adjei Yeboah of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who had17,856 votes.
Ms Freda Prempeh of the NPP also won the Tano North constituency, she polled 18,529 as against her closet contender Mr Apraku Lartey of the NDC who polled 14,789.
Madam Ama Pomaa Andoh, Juaben Constituency, also won the seat for the NPP with 22,323 votes by beating Ms Vida Addai of the NDC, who polled 7,064 votes.
Dr Mrs Bernice Heloo, polled 40,486 to win the Hohoe seat.
Former Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, Ms Patricia Appiagyei won the Asokwa seat for the NPP when she won 64,904 votes against Mr Charles Kojo Obeng of the NDC who polled 12,647 votes.
Gender Activist Ms Ursula Owusu of the NPP polled 36,975 to beat NDC’s Ms Victoria Hammah of the NDC who had 26,153 votes in the Ablekuma West Constituency.
Former Deputy Minister for Health in the NPP government could not recapture her seat after she lost it in 2008, as the NDC’s Ms Benita Sena Okity-Duah, a former Miss Ghana, won with 52,554 votes with Dr Ashitey polling 42,038 votes.
The Atiwa East seat was won by Ms Abena Osei Asare of the NPP with 16,409 votes as against Mr Asante Foster of the NDC who had 6,480 votes.
Ms Queenstar Pokua Sawyerr won the Agona East seat for NDC by polling 22,654 as against the NPP’s John Agyabeng who polled 18,002.
The Gomoa Central seat was also won by a new entrant, Ms Rachel Florence Appoh of the NDC who polled 15,719 votes as against the NPP’s Dr Edward Nana Ketu Cudjoe who had 11,385.
The Krachi West also has a new NDC MP, Ms Helen Adjoa Ntoso, who won the seat with 14,049 votes as against the NPP’s  Douglas Osei-Nti who had 8,769 votes.
Ms Adwoa Safo won the Dome/Kwabenya seat for NPP by polling 63,373 as against her female counterpart, Ms Sophia Karen Ackuaku of the NDC who polled 35,366 votes.
Ms Georgina Nkrumah Aboah won the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa seat for the NDC by polling 23,705 votes against the NPP candidate who polled only 2,187.
Hajia Laadi Ayii Ayamba won the Pusiga seat for the NDC by polling 15,174 votes against the NPP’s Mohammed Imoro Asoko who had 7,749 votes.

Hajia Laadi Ayii Ayamba-NEW

Who's our next first lady?

Article: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
WHO becomes the next first lady of Ghana will depend on which of the eight presidential candidates contesting for tomorrow’s election wins the race.
On the ballot which will be cast by about 14 million voters are President John Dramani Mahama, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Dr Abu Sakara Foster, Mr Hassan Ayariga, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, Mr Jacob Osei-Yeboah, Mr Akwasi Addai Odike and Dr Henry Lartey.
At the end of voting, the potential first ladies will wait patiently for the outcome to determine whether Mrs Lordina Mahama would continue as the first lady or another person will take over from her.
Ghana’s democratic process which started in 1992 has seen first ladies in the likes of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, Mrs Theresa Kufuor and Mrs Enerstina Naadu Mills who were the wives of Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, John Agyekum Kuffour and the Late John Evans Atta Mills respectively.
Nana Konadu was the first lady from 1992 to 2000 and during her reign the nation witnessed a vibrant 31st December Womens’ Movement which empowered women across the country to be self-reliant economically and socially.
Mrs Kufuor’s reign saw the establishment of the Mother and Child Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) which sought for assistance, especially in the form of medical and educational materials, to support mothers and their children.
Mrs Mills, whose reign was truncated with less than a year to its end due to the death of her husband, sourced for and made donations to especially children in need to help better their lives.
Mrs Lordina Mahama, wife of President Mahama, became the first lady on July 24, 2012 following the elevation of her husband, then Vice-President, to the position of President.
The fate of her husband in the elections would determine whether Lordina will become a full term first lady or go down in history as the first lady to have served for less than six months.
A member of the John Mahama Campaign 2012 team, the Lordina Mahama Fun Club, Youth For Mahama (YFM), among others, she works at galvanising support for her husband.
Her organisation, the Alternative Source of Income Programme (ASOIP), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), is committed to helping underprivileged children and women in the under-developed areas of Ghana.
She grew up in Tamale in the Northern Region and was born to Madam Abena Gyan and Mr Kwabena Effah, both deceased.
Her father hailed from Nkoranza Bodom while her mother was from Jema-Ampoma, both in the Brong Ahafo Region.
After an early primary education in Tamale, Lordina was admitted to the Bolga Girls Secondary School but after the second year, she moved to the Ghana Secondary School where she wrote her General Certificate Examination (GCE).
During her secondary school days, she took keen interest in Home Science and that led her to continue her training at the Flair Catering Training Centre in Accra.
She obtained a Bachelor (Hospitality Industry) degree at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) in 2008.
Mrs Sandra Addai, the wife of the United Front Party (UFP) presidential candidate, 44, married Mr Addai in 1984. She hails from Nkronza and lives in Kumasi with the UFP presidential candidate. They are blessed with four children.
A businesswoman, she is looking forward to being the First Lady on January 7, 2013.
The wife of Nana Akufo-Addo is Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo.
Mrs Akufo-Addo hails from Osu and Akuse in the Greater Accra Region.
She is the second daughter of the late Jacob Hackenburg Griffiths-Randolph, the Speaker of Parliament of the Third Republic of Ghana, and Mrs Frances Griffiths-Randolph.
She began her career as a pioneering staff of the Merchant Bank, Ghana. She later went to the United Kingdom to work as a legal secretary for two top law firms, Clifford Chance and Ashurst Morris Crisp.
She is a board member of the Infanta Malaria Prevention Foundation, a charity organisation dedicated to the support of children, with particular focus on fighting childhood killer disease, malaria.
From 2008, Mrs Akufo-Addo has not left the campaign trail, rallying for her husband.
Her role in the 2012 campaign has been extraordinary as she crisscrosses the length and breadth of the country talking to several women, organisations and groups.
She has been a regular guest at almost all major markets in the country where she explains her husband’s vision and dreams for Ghana.
Mrs Yvonne Nduom is the wife of Dr Papa Kwasi Nduom. She was born and bred in Elmina. She attended primary schools at the St John Bosco Catholic School in Winneba and Our Lady of Apostles in Elmina and continued to the Archbishop Porter's Girls Secondary School in Takoradi for her GCE Ordinary Level Certificate.
She continued to the St Louis Secondary School in Kumasi where she obtained a GCE Advanced Level certificate before continuing to the University of Cape Coast for a B A (ED) degree in English and Education.
She later taught at Kumasi Girls Secondary School for her National Service and also served as a part-time English tutor at the Kumasi Polytechnic.
She got engaged to Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom in 1976 and moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1977.
While in the United States of America, she studied at the University of Wisconsin and obtained MSc in Administration in Leadership and Adult Education in 1980.
From 1990, Mrs Nduom partnered her husband, Dr Nduom, to establish several companies, namely Gold Coast Securities, First National Savings And Loan, Qualtek, Ghana Media Group, Sterlin Management Services, Yorke Properties and Coconut Grove Hotels, of which she is the Executive Chairperson. She is a board member of the First National Savings and Loan and the chairperson of the Christian Mothers Association.
As Director of Sterlin Management Services, she developed and conducted Management Training Programmes for quite a number of Blue Chip Companies, notably Unilever, Merchant, Barclays, Standard Chartered banks, Total Ghana Ltd, Guinness Ghana Ltd and many others.
The wife of the CPP presidential aspirant, Mrs Mary Lily-Kafela Sakara, is an economist and business administrator by profession.
A native of Navrongo in the Upper East Region, Mrs Sakara had her GCE ordinary level certificate education at the St Roses Senior High School and obtained her advanced level certificate at the Ola Girls Senior High School.
Also a businesswoman, she was born at Yendi in the Northern Region into a family of four boys and six girls to the late Mr Alexander Adolba Tigenoah and Mrs Elizabeth Charity Tigenoah.
While studying at the Ealing College, now Thames Valley University, in the United Kingdom for her B.A degree in Economics, she met her husband, Mr Abu Sakara Foster, who was also studying in the UK.
Mrs Anita Ayariga is the wife of the PNC presidential candidate, Mr Hassan Ayariga. She attended Achimota Secondary School and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) where she studied Graphic Design. Mrs Ayariga is also a businesswoman.
Mrs Hilda Osei-Yeboah is the wife of the only independent candidate in the race. She hails from Elmina. She got married to Mr Jacob Osei-Yeboah in 1996 and they have four children.
She attended the St Monica’s Senior High School at Asante Mampong and continued to the Takoradi Polytechnic.
She works together with her husband at Vital Source Limited (VSL), a procurement and logistics company focused on gold mining and oil and gas industries within West Africa.
At the moment, she has taken full charge of the company founded by her husband so that he can have time to campaign.
The presidential candidate of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Dr. Henry Lartey, is divorced and single.

Female MP in Ghana's First Republic shares her experience -Calls forpeaceful elections

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

Madam Lucy Aninwaa Anin

IN the First Republic, Dr Kwame Nkrumah introduced an affirmative action during which 10 women were elected into Ghana’s Parliament.

This became possible when he introduced the Representation of People’s Amendment Bill after he realised that the country’s Parliament was made up of only men.

In that election, 10 women were elected in an all-female contest which was held in all the 10 regions of the country.

One of the women who was among the first women to enter the country’s Parliament in the First Republic is Madam Lucy Aninwaa Anin of the Convention People’s Party (CPP). She contested against 12 other women and won to represent the Brong Ahafo Region.

Currently in her 70s, she was in Parliament from 1960 to February 24, 1966 when the CPP government was overthrown.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra, Madam Anin recountered some of her fond memories in the First Republican Parliament, which she said heralded Ghana’s development processes.

According to her, together with the men in Parliament, gender sensitive bills were passed into laws and this included the Merit and Inheritance Law as well as the establishment of the National Council of Ghana Women, led by Lady Arku Korsah, wife of the first black Chief Justice of Ghana, Sir Kobina Arku Korsah, with Justice Annie Jiagge as the Council’s legal advisor.

The coming in of the Council saw the formation of a women’s movement which led to the introduction of more policies and programmes with an aim to support the welfare of women and children.

Through the movement, some of the policies that were introduced included the launch of an adult education programme which was placed under the Social Welfare Department and was held under trees, kindergarten for children, immunisation programmes, opening of vocational training schools and the admission of women to work in the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), which was then the only government owned bank in the country.

Through Nkrumah’s initiative, all the 10 women were appointed as members of boards of state-owned companies.Madam Anin was with the Ghana Footwear Company in Kumasi. Another MP, Ms Comfort Asamoah, was with the Ghana Airways; Ms Mary Koranteng was placed at the Fisheries Corporation and Mrs Sussan Alhassan became the first Minister for Social Welfare.

According to Madam Anin, the women performed their tasks with happiness as that was the first time women were given the opportunity to rub shoulders with their male counterparts in decision-making.

They, therefore, performed their work as MPs and became social advocates as they embarked on campaigns to ensure cleanliness in the environment and educate women on how to carry themselves as wives and mothers.

This they did by visiting their regions with the regional women’s commissioners where they checked on the needs of the people and presented them in Parliament.

The female MPs, together with their male counterparts, also visited foreign countries, including Germany, Europe and Israel, to understudy them to replicate in the country some of the good policies and programmes that these countries had.

Today, Madam Anin says the achievements that were gained in the country during the Nkrumah era have retrogressed as people, especially politicians, are more concerned about themselves and not the country.

As law makers, she said, politicians were there to protect the interest of the country and not to build roads or schools, as that was the work of the district chief executives.

She called on MPs to be patriotic and not to see their work as an opportunity to amass wealth.

She commended the 133 women who were contesting on the ticket of the various political parties and advised them to love their country first before their parties.

She, however, expressed disappointment in the work of the few women MPs who were presently in the House, saying that as women they should be more concerned about the cleanliness of the country and pointing out that due to lack of proper supervision, “filth has engulfed the country.” She added that environmental cleanliness should be championed by women.

She called on female MPs to also champion discipline among the youth to ensure a violence-free election.

She also said as women, they had been given instincts, which men do not have, and therefore they should use these instincts to the advantage of the country. She urged the female MPs to be more concerned about national development.

On the upcoming elections, she called on the Electoral Commission to ensure that it put its house in order to ensure a peaceful elections, saying that the creation of additional districts were unnecessary, as developed countries which have bigger populations have smaller members in their Parliament.

She called on all to work towards ensuring that there was peaceful elections in the country on December 7, 2012.