Speaking at a public forum in Tamale as part of activities to mark 30 years of the Fourth Republican Constitution, the Speaker of Parliament expressed his disappointment with the low percentage of women in parliament, He has thus called for more participatory democracy by ensuring inclusive governance.
According to statistics, 14.5 percent of seats in Ghana's parliament were held by women, despite the low female representation, the share stood as an increase from 2011, when only 8.3 percent of the seats were held by women.
This puts Ghana at the bottom of the rankings on the Gender Inequality Index.
“The number of colleagues has surpassed the 30 percent that we all signed to achieve by 2020, and we are lagging behind and so with 40 women MPs in the House of 275 MPs is a foul cry in the newly emerging democracies in the world.”
“The representation of persons with disabilities is even worse. The highest of 5.5 percent is in the Sixth Parliament is what this country has achieved so far.
“The representation of the youth in Parliament is also still very low and one can confidently say the response to the call for participatory governance is encouraging, but the response to inclusive governance is poor.”
Rwanda's seats in the national parliament were held by 60 percent of women, the country has the strongest female participation in politics in Africa. It also ranked first globally, with the highest proportion of women in power in lower houses than in any other nation.