Accra, Nov. 11, GNA - Mr Alban Bagbin, the Minority Leader, on Friday said Ghana would have made progress in her quest for gender parity by now if a woman occupied one of the highest offices of the land.

The offices of the President, Vice President and the Speaker of Parliament, in that order, constitute the most important national positions.

The Minority Leader, who was contributing to a statement congratulating the winners of this year's Annual Best Teachers Awards, which was dominated by women, said: "I pray for that day when a woman will rule the country."

He said women have special qualities like humility, trustworthiness and loyalty, which were needed to build a strong and prosperous nation. "They make the best workers in hospitals, banks and areas that need caring and meticulous characters."

The Member said he was optimistic that Mrs Sirleaf Johnson would make a good leader in Liberia partly due to her womanhood adding, "the future holds well for Liberia"

Mrs Gladys Asmah, Minister of Fisheries, said women had sacrificed a lot for the sustenance of homes, communities and the nation as a whole. She asked that the late Dr Aggrey's assertion that "if you educate a man you educate an individual and if you educate a woman you educate a nation", be taken seriously because it was an abiding truth. Mrs Agnes Chigabatia, Member for Builsa North, who made the statement called for the removal of all obstacles affecting women on the path to empowerment and development.

She said if women had been able to sweep awards in the teaching field then "truly women are the key to national development". "These women have demonstrated that when you educate a woman you have educated a nation because women are the backbone of human resource development of the nation," she said. 11 Nov. 05