January 20-A retired Justice of the Supreme Court; the highest court of Ghana has made history, as she has been elected the first female Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament.
Mrs Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo’s achievement becomes an accomplishment worth celebrating by Ghanaian women after various years of the struggle for gender equality and emancipation for women from all sorts of abuse and marginalization.
In this position, Mrs Bamford-Addo, 71 is the third highest person in the country after the President and Vice President.
She was worn in by the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Wood who also made history some few years ago by heading Ghana’s Judiciary.
This means that currently, two arms of the country’s government that is the Legislature and Judiciary are now being run by women.
The Speaker of the fifth Parliament of the Fourth Republic was elected unopposed and succeeds Mr Ebenezer Sekyi Hughes, in a Parliament of 230 representatives.
Mrs Bamford-Addo attended the Holy Child Secondary School in Cape Coast, at the capital of the Central region.
She trained as a lawyer in the United Kingdom and practiced briefly in London and relocated to Ghana.
She joined the Attorney General’s Department in Ghana as a State Attorney in 1963 and rose to become the Director of Public Prosecution in 1986.
Between 1991 and 2004 she served as Supreme Court Judge.
She also served on various boards including the Legal Aid Board and the Judicial Council.
In 1992, she served as a Deputy Speaker of the Consultative Assembly and retired from public service in October 2004, having served as a practicing lawyer for 43 years and as a judge of the Supreme Court for 13 years.
With this worth of experience, it is ample testimony that she won the seat not based on just the mere fact that she is a woman given undue advantage but based on her competence.
Chapter ten of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, states there shall be a Speaker of Parliament who shall be elected by the members of Parliament from among persons who are members of Parliament or who are qualified to be elected as members of Parliament.
The Speaker will however be expected to vacate his or her office if he becomes a Minister of State or a Deputy Minister, or if he resigns from office by writing signed by him and addressed to the Clerk to Parliament; or if any circumstances arise that, if he were not Speaker, would disqualify him for election as a member of Parliament.
It also says that the Speaker will also be expected to vacate the position if he or she is removed from office by a resolution of Parliament supported by the votes of not less than three-quarters of all the members of Parliament.
The constitutions also requires person elected to the office of Speaker to before entering upon the duties of his office, take and subscribe before Parliament the oath of allegiance and the Speaker's oath set out in the Second Schedule to this Constitution.
On emoluments, the Speaker will however receive such salary and allowances, and on retirement, such retiring awards as may be determined in accordance with article 71 of this Constitution.
The salary and allowances payable to the Speaker and any retiring awards payable to him on retirement shall be charged on state fund called the Consolidated Fund.
The salary and other allowances payable to the Speaker shall not be varied to his disadvantage during his tenure of office.
The Speaker will have two Deputy Speakers of Parliament who shall be elected by the members of Parliament from among the members of Parliament; and both of who shall not be members of the same political party
In previous years, gender activists and women groups have called for the inclusion of women and some have even proposed quota systems that would ensure fair representation of women in parliament.
This have failed, as some critics say women were calling for their inclusion not based on competence but just for the sake of inclusion.
Before Ghana’s elections in December last year, the names of some women emerged as potential candidates to be nominated as running mates to support flag bearers of the major political parties.
The running mates, according to the country’s constitution automatically become the vice president of the Republic when the political party wins the elections.
It therefore came as a big surprise and disappointment at the same time to gender activists who taught the battle had been won when the parties announced male names as their vice presidential candidates.
Although the battle had not been totally won yet, women are hoping that with time they would find their rightful place in the world.
Gradually the trend is changing as girl child education is on the increase in the country.
Through the intervention of previous government’s, many policies have been introduced to ensure that more girls go to school and stay in school.
This include the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education programme introduced over 20 years ago, to ensure that all citizens had at least basic education, the Capitation Grant initiated by the former administration led by ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor which provided grants of three dollars to each pupil every academic year to pay for tuition and a school feeding programme which provided free lunch for pupils in basic schools.
Ghana’s basic education begins with a two- year nursery and kindergarten education, six years of primary education and three years of junior high school.
It was later realized that the campaign, which started as girl child education, must be given a deeper focus as most girls dropped out of school due to teenage pregnancy, early marriage, traditional beliefs that women were home managers and therefore belonged to the kitchen among others.
Thank God that eventually, females are outnumbering the males in most educational institutions in Ghana and are performing better.
But the challenge now is how to pursue higher academic laurels to especially the Masters and PhD levels.
Due to their feminine societal roles, most of them cannot afford to let go of their marital pride and therefore abandon education to cater for their families.
Ghanaian women salute Mrs Bamford-Addo and look forward to more of such accomplishment.
We hope this is just the beginning of real hope for womanhood.
End
Monday, January 19, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Ghana's Elections, How It Happened
By Hannah Annor
Professor John Evans Atta Mills of the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been declared president elect for Ghana to succeed President John Agyekum Kufuor.
He would officially receive the mantle from President Kufuor at a ceremony in Accra on January 7.
The president- elect won the seat elections in a historic battle, which saw Ghanaians going to the polls on two occasions, December 7 for the presidential and parliamentary elections and on December 28 for a presidential run-off.
The December 7 polls could not produce a winner since none of the candidates attained the constitutional requirement of 50 per cent plus one vote.
As if the two occasions were not enough, Ghanaians were again kept in suspense for another four days to make way for the conduct of elections in one constituency called Tain in the Brong Ahafo region.
Tain constituents could cast their ballot in the presidential run-off because some ballot papers were alleged to have been missing.
But Ghana’s statutory institution in charge of the Elections, the Electoral Commission later come out to explain that the number of ballot papers sent to Tain were accurate but the problem occurred when distributing them.
It said some polling centres were given more than the required number of ballot papers, leading to shortages elsewhere.
In the December 7 elections, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo, presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) took the lead with 49. 13 per cent and Prof Mills followed with 47.92 per cent.
However, the battle turned around during the presidential run-off where Prof Mills swept the lead from his contender, Nana Akufo Addo to take the seat.
Prof Mills took the seat with 50. 23 per cent whilst Nana-Akufo-Addo also had 49.77 per cent.
Prof Mills’ message of “change” seemed to have gone down well with Ghanaians who gave him their thumb to lead the country as compared to his contender’s message of “ We Are Moving Forward”.
Before the elections, Prof Mills, 64, was seen to have intensified his campaign this year, embarking on a door to door campaign dubbed “ I care for you” in order to win the sympathy of electorates.
It appeared this strategy worked well for him, which saw his massive victory, especially in his hometown, the Central region.
The President-elect who was vice to President Jerry John Rawlings, who handed over power to President Kufuor in 2000, won the seat after contesting with the NPP on three conservative times in 2000, 2004 and this elections.
During the elections, all was calm in the country with very few irregularities. This made the country receive lots of commendation from the international community as well as other international observers who thronged into Ghana to monitor the elections.
The December 7 election, which also elected 230 parliamentarians, saw the defeat of some key personalities of the NPP such as the Information Minister to the Kufuor administration and other NDC gurus.
The NDC therefore won more seats than the NPP and therefore would have a simple majority representation in Parliament.
The NDC had 114 members in parliamentarians against 107 for the NPP.
The NDC therefore capitalized on this to win the presidential seat, campaigning that it had the majority in Parliament and therefore needed the mandate of Ghanaians for the presidency in order to also push its agenda.
It therefore became a big surprise to the NPP when provisional results of the presidential run-off started pouring in on the electronic media showing NDC in the lead.
The political tension has now cooled out in the country and all are awaiting January 7, for the smooth transition.
The President-elect had already named a team to ensure a smooth transition and he is calling for peace and cooperation from the entire citizenry in order to serve the country as expected.
On whether Ghana and the United States have similar patterns in terms of politics, it will be recalled that when Bill Clinton was leaving office in 2000, he handed over to President George .W Bush who was then in opposition.
Similarly, Ghana voted for the NPP , then in opposition and therefore former President Rawlings handed over power to President Kufuor in the same year.
Furthermore, when Barack Obama of the American Democrat party won the elections, some NDC compatriots started prophesying victory for the NDC which incidentally shared a common slogan of “ Change” with Obama.
Interestingly, the vice presidential candidate to Prof Mills, John Mahama who is now the Vice-President elect was even nick named Obama during the campaigning.
Some analysts have therefore questioned whether Ghana’s politics would in subsequent years follow the American pattern?. Perhaps time would tell.
Another interesting issue has to do with the names of the three successive head of states that have ruled the country in previous years.
Former President Rawlings was called John, President Kufuor was also a John and the President elect is also a John.
Are John’s the most anointed to lead Ghana and are preparing the way for a “messiah” to come . Perhaps time would prove this too.
Even for the next administration , the Vice President is also a John and coincidentally shared a similar surname with his successor, Alhaji Aliu Mahama.
Ghana had so far been a shinning example to Africa and the world at large by proving that it was possible for an African country to hold elections without any violence.
She was the first country to have independence in sub-Saharan Africa and continues to maintain her position as one of the most respected countries within the West African sub-region.
Ghana, with a population of over 22 million is the second global leader in cocoa production and also second for Gold.
End
Professor John Evans Atta Mills of the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been declared president elect for Ghana to succeed President John Agyekum Kufuor.
He would officially receive the mantle from President Kufuor at a ceremony in Accra on January 7.
The president- elect won the seat elections in a historic battle, which saw Ghanaians going to the polls on two occasions, December 7 for the presidential and parliamentary elections and on December 28 for a presidential run-off.
The December 7 polls could not produce a winner since none of the candidates attained the constitutional requirement of 50 per cent plus one vote.
As if the two occasions were not enough, Ghanaians were again kept in suspense for another four days to make way for the conduct of elections in one constituency called Tain in the Brong Ahafo region.
Tain constituents could cast their ballot in the presidential run-off because some ballot papers were alleged to have been missing.
But Ghana’s statutory institution in charge of the Elections, the Electoral Commission later come out to explain that the number of ballot papers sent to Tain were accurate but the problem occurred when distributing them.
It said some polling centres were given more than the required number of ballot papers, leading to shortages elsewhere.
In the December 7 elections, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo, presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) took the lead with 49. 13 per cent and Prof Mills followed with 47.92 per cent.
However, the battle turned around during the presidential run-off where Prof Mills swept the lead from his contender, Nana Akufo Addo to take the seat.
Prof Mills took the seat with 50. 23 per cent whilst Nana-Akufo-Addo also had 49.77 per cent.
Prof Mills’ message of “change” seemed to have gone down well with Ghanaians who gave him their thumb to lead the country as compared to his contender’s message of “ We Are Moving Forward”.
Before the elections, Prof Mills, 64, was seen to have intensified his campaign this year, embarking on a door to door campaign dubbed “ I care for you” in order to win the sympathy of electorates.
It appeared this strategy worked well for him, which saw his massive victory, especially in his hometown, the Central region.
The President-elect who was vice to President Jerry John Rawlings, who handed over power to President Kufuor in 2000, won the seat after contesting with the NPP on three conservative times in 2000, 2004 and this elections.
During the elections, all was calm in the country with very few irregularities. This made the country receive lots of commendation from the international community as well as other international observers who thronged into Ghana to monitor the elections.
The December 7 election, which also elected 230 parliamentarians, saw the defeat of some key personalities of the NPP such as the Information Minister to the Kufuor administration and other NDC gurus.
The NDC therefore won more seats than the NPP and therefore would have a simple majority representation in Parliament.
The NDC had 114 members in parliamentarians against 107 for the NPP.
The NDC therefore capitalized on this to win the presidential seat, campaigning that it had the majority in Parliament and therefore needed the mandate of Ghanaians for the presidency in order to also push its agenda.
It therefore became a big surprise to the NPP when provisional results of the presidential run-off started pouring in on the electronic media showing NDC in the lead.
The political tension has now cooled out in the country and all are awaiting January 7, for the smooth transition.
The President-elect had already named a team to ensure a smooth transition and he is calling for peace and cooperation from the entire citizenry in order to serve the country as expected.
On whether Ghana and the United States have similar patterns in terms of politics, it will be recalled that when Bill Clinton was leaving office in 2000, he handed over to President George .W Bush who was then in opposition.
Similarly, Ghana voted for the NPP , then in opposition and therefore former President Rawlings handed over power to President Kufuor in the same year.
Furthermore, when Barack Obama of the American Democrat party won the elections, some NDC compatriots started prophesying victory for the NDC which incidentally shared a common slogan of “ Change” with Obama.
Interestingly, the vice presidential candidate to Prof Mills, John Mahama who is now the Vice-President elect was even nick named Obama during the campaigning.
Some analysts have therefore questioned whether Ghana’s politics would in subsequent years follow the American pattern?. Perhaps time would tell.
Another interesting issue has to do with the names of the three successive head of states that have ruled the country in previous years.
Former President Rawlings was called John, President Kufuor was also a John and the President elect is also a John.
Are John’s the most anointed to lead Ghana and are preparing the way for a “messiah” to come . Perhaps time would prove this too.
Even for the next administration , the Vice President is also a John and coincidentally shared a similar surname with his successor, Alhaji Aliu Mahama.
Ghana had so far been a shinning example to Africa and the world at large by proving that it was possible for an African country to hold elections without any violence.
She was the first country to have independence in sub-Saharan Africa and continues to maintain her position as one of the most respected countries within the West African sub-region.
Ghana, with a population of over 22 million is the second global leader in cocoa production and also second for Gold.
End
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