The Deputy Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Nyamah believes the choice of Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang as the running mate for the National Democratic Congress is a positive step for Ghana’s democracy.
His comments come after the flag bearer of the NDC, John Mahama, said that his party has shown its willingness to bring women into the highest level of decision-making in the country.
“For me, it’s a plus to our democratic dispensation. There has always been the clamour for an increased participation of women in our democratic process. In actual fact, the NPP has been leading that call and if you look over the period, when it comes with to the issue of representation in terms of numbers and percentages, the NPP has, over the years, made conscious effort to increase the numbers,” Mr Nyamah said on Citi TV’s Breakfast Daily on Thursday, July 9, 2020.
“I remember in 2014/15, the then-candidate Akufo-Addo actually made the call for some positive discrimination for some seats and women not to be contested within the party during parliamentary elections to ensure that there was a minimum number of women in parliament. It was largely shot down and the issue was that it was a competitive process and so in the end, if the woman is competent enough, she should stand and get elected.”
He, however, took a dig at the former president Mahama, suggesting that Prof Naana Opoku-Agyemang’s was because of his “incompetence”.
“The person has to be assessed not just on her gender, but also on the quality she brings. To a large extent, she qualifies for the office, but how will she complement the person that she is with. If you hear the commentary out there and the reasons being ascribed, the one that has stood is apart from her being a woman is the fact that she is unblemished, has no tag and is innocent.”
“That suggests that the person she is running with, has no such tags and it needs to be balanced. Dr Bawumia said, that no matter the qualities of the running mate if the presidential candidate is incompetent, it could all come to nought.”
Naana Opoku-Agyemang selected to clear Mahama’s image — Louise Carol
A former parliamentary aspirant for the NPP in the Old Tafo constituency, Louise Carol Donkor, also said that the NDC selected Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang as a ploy to sanitise the image of John Mahama.
“The NDC’s nomination of Prof Opoku-Agyemang, deceitful as it is, is merely indented to harness her seeming nobility to sanitise the image of John Dramani Mahama, irredeemably blemished by corruption and incompetence, sets her up as a sheep amongst wolves, without any true opportunity for impact,” she said in a statement.
“Rather than signalling transformational progress, the nomination could set the women’s agenda many years back in the most unlikely event that Ghanaians give their mandate to the NDC in 2020 to deliver an assured continuation of poor governance and corruption.”
Mahama should have chosen Hanna Tetteh or Marietta as running mate – Kyei Mensah Bonsu
The Majority leader in parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, questioned the value that Prof Naana Opoku Agyemang brings to the ticket of the party.
He said that the professor lacks the required qualities to improve the chances for John Mahama in the 2020 elections.
“If he [John Mahama] wanted a woman, when they were mentioning some women who have demonstrable competence who have risen through this House to establish themselves firmly in the feminist arena, one such person could have been Hanna Tetteh. She has been an MP before, she has been a Minister of Foreign Affairs, so she has learned the rules, so she could have complimented the ex-president Mahama. The former Attorney General is also there — Marietta Brew. She is a solid lady, but you ask yourself what value is this woman [Prof Opoku-Agyemang] is bringing to that ticket, and that’s where I find it extremely difficult.”