The Coalition of Women Organisers of Ghana has expressed its “shock” and “disappointment” at what it describes as the “high level of gender imbalance” in President Nana Akufo-Addo’s ministerial appointments.

A statement issued by the Coalition on Thursday, 28 February 2019 signed by its Acting Chairperson, Janet Nabla, expressed the group’s reservations about the gender imbalance being “perpetuated” by the president with his latest appointment of 14 ministers and deputies for the six newly-created regions and the Bono Region (previously the Brong Ahafo Region) in the country.

There was only one female among the new appointees – Mrs Evelyn Ama Kumi-Richardson, Regional Minister-designate for the Bono Region.

The Coalition said it has always taken note of “the failure of the president to meet the mantra of gender balance that the president and the governing New Patriotic Party trumpeted during the campaign leading to their election into office.”

The group added: “It is quite disheartening to note that a president who has been honoured by the African Union as a gender-sensitive personality, does not find it prudent to include even a single female on the list of twelve ministerial appointees. Is the president telling this nation that none of our Ghanaian women meets his criteria/qualification for appointment into these offices?

“The Coalition does not mince words in expressing its disappointment in the president for his failure to walk the talk of gender balance and gender sensitivity that was at the heart of his campaign message that led to his election into the high office of the president of the nation”, the Coalition said.

The group has, therefore, called on “the president to revisit his campaign message and walk the talk”, since, in its view, “the women of Ghana deserve better.”