CPP FIREBRAN URGES WOMEN POSITIVE ACTION

By Felix Engsalige Nyaaba

Madam Harriet Anita Abaidoo, the  Executive Director of  “Women ,Step- into Action,”  an Accra based  Non Governmental Organization (NGO), has called on Ghanaian women, especially  market women to wake up from their slumber  and stand against any negative politics during this year general elections.

She said, for many years, women and children have been relegated to the background and denied their fair share of the national cake by political leaders after getting power from them and returns to them only when they need votes to win power again.

The women and children rights advocate,  said until women themselves stand and say no to such deceitful by political leaders, they would always remain at the background and use as political ladder  by the men to ascend political power.

 Madam Anita Abaidoo, who is also a parliamentary aspirant for the Convention People Party (CPP) for the Okai-koi South Constituency in the Greater Accra Region, expressed these concerns during an interview with The Enquirer in her office in Accra last Friday.

According to her, it was highly unacceptable that women who have the highest percentage in the country’s population per the 2010 population census have only 18 parliamentarians, representing 7% out of the total of 230 seats in the country parliament.

She stated that, the more women stay away from political decision making, the more problems they face,  and urged all women in the country to stand up on their feet and come out in their numbers and vote massively for women who have the courage to stand for political power irrespective of their status in society.

She told The Enquirer that, she had wanted not to contest for the parliamentary seat but upon realizing the extent of how women  and children are been cheated, she decided to take the initiative and go to parliament to enable her champion for the equality of women and children who are the most disadvantage in  society.

Women she said,” have been cheated for far too long, men take advantage of the vulnerability of women and children to achieve d their objectives, leaving them in abject poverty”.

 The women representation in parliament she said is very poor and called on women pressure groups in the country to stand up against what she described as political cheating on women and children in the country.

“Look around, go to the market areas, go everywhere in this country, you would see women struggling to meet the basic needs of the family, yet we are the most marginalized in this country, I think it is time for us to act seriously, that is why I initiated this organization, “Women, Step into Action” and we will succeed,” she lamented.

According to her, Ghanaian women are best equipped with knowledge that can be use to move the country forward and they do not need to possess  big titles and degrees to hold political leaders in the country  responsible for their duties.

 She therefore called on women to follow up issues being debated  in the country  concerning their lives, saying, women are not only for attending weddings and naming ceremonies or for only social activities.