Matilda Amissah-Arthur, the wife of Ghana’s former Vice President, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur is asking the state to sponsor the charity activities of the wives of the President and the Vice President.
She is also asking for their roles to be clearly defined so that their actions while in government are properly streamlined.
According to her, if that is done, there will not be instances where their work unfavourably overlaps the functions of existing state structures of development.
Speaking on The Point of View on Monday, she also suggested that development projects undertaken by the first lady and the wife of the vice president if funded by the state will ensure continuity even when they exit office.
“Looking at what happened in my time and going forward, I think that it will be proper for the roles to be clearly defined for people to know exactly what they are doing so that there are no overlaps.”
“If the roles are clearly defined and resources are given, when you are in that position and after, for continuity, things will flow as well,” she said.
She indicated that all the projects she embarked upon as the wife of the vice president while in government were funded by herself and has never received financial support from the government.
“For a lot of people, they thought that it was the government giving me money to do it but government never gave me anything. I did it out of my own resources,” she stressed.
Matilda Amissah-Arthur, who is a librarian by profession while in government pursued a number of charity projects geared towards the promotion of literacy, digital libraries and quality healthcare which has remained consistent despite the NDC’s exit from office in January 2017.
Other first ladies and wives of former vice presidents in the country have struggled to keep their foundations and charity organizations afloat after leaving office due to many unstated challenges but Mrs Amissah-Arthur believes that with clearly defined roles and state support, such charities will be able to continue to function even after a change in government.