A Women group in the Northern Region, Women for Women In Development, is canvassing strongly for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) delegates in the region to vote and endorse Hajia Abibata Shanni Mahama, the only female in the NPP race in the Yendi Constituency.
As a Women group made up of women from various Political Parties in Ghana precisely, which bel Ives in the competence of women in political discourse, the group averred that the time has come for the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Region to see the importance of women Parliamentary candidates.
In a Petition to the leadership of the party in the Northern Region, the Leader of the group, Ayishetu Issahaku stated that Parliamentary seats has over the years been dominated by men with little number of women and in some regions none representation of them.
“Meanwhile, as time evolves, the strengths of women is beginning to be felt in national development,” she said quoting Imam Ali (as) “Woman is a delicate creature with strong emotions who has been created by the Almighty Allah to shoulder responsibility for educating society and moving toward perfection. God created woman as symbol of His own beauty and to give solace to her partner and her family.”
According to her Hajia Abibata Shanni Mahama, being the only woman in the race of the Yendi constituency Parliament primaries tells how strong, confident and courageous and her readiness to serve the good people of Yendi is and that her unwavering zeal to change Yendi for the better must be supported.
“We urge the honourable Delegates to settle on her in calming the feud between the two men contestants. We refer to that in our dilet (dagbani) as (goozabli). We anticipate that, the two men candidates, Farouk Aliu Mahama and Baba Daney will throw in the towel just to rally behind their courageous sister for being the only lady and for real development,” Ayishetu Issahaku stated.
She indicated that every election in Ghana provides an opportunity for the people provide the needed guidance and support to the few women who would vie for political leadership at the local, constituency or national levels in order to improve women participation in democratic processes, since women constitute more than half of Ghana’s population (51.2%).
She stressed that without women participation, Ghana’s decision making processes will not be complete.
Ayishetu Issahaku bemoaned the low participation of women at all levels of decision making; attributing it to patriarchy or male dominance which is a key aspect of the Ghanaian social system.
“But we at Yendi must change this narrative,” she said.
She also mentioned that Hajia Abibata Shanni Mahama within the shortest period as a Deputy MASLOC CEO, has proven how effective she is in her line of duty and her readiness to serve mother Ghana.
“Over the period she has brought a lot of improvement in terms of job opportunities, social amenities, economical support through soft loans to our mothers, etc in the Yendi constituency. Indeed, her performance has been good, but we believe will reach perfection if she has the opportunity to represent the constituency in parliament. For us (WOFWID), the representation of Hajia Abibata Mahama of the Yendi Constituency will be unprecedented and the greatest thing that will happen to the Constituency and the region as far as the positive turnaround is concern. We urge all and sundry to stand for her.”
She therefore called on all delegates to give women the chance to prove their worth for they are the best managers of affairs.
She said: “let’s support Hajia Abibata Shanni Mahama with all that we have, and we will never regret we did. The promotion of Gender Equality and women’s empowerment was the third goal set out in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) but also one of the goals that evaded the world, including Ghana. We must use Hajia Abibata Shanni Mahama as a test case in Yendi to prove a change.”
By Prosper Agbenyega