General News of Wednesday, 20 March 2019

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Give women 75 seats in Parliament – Deputy Minister-designate to Akufo-Addo

Deputy Minister-Designate for Land and Natural Resources, Naana Eyiah Quansah play videoDeputy Minister-Designate for Land and Natural Resources, Naana Eyiah Quansah

Deputy Minister-Designate for Land and Natural Resources, Naana Eyiah Quansah has called on President Akufo-Addo and all members of parliament to reserve 75 seats in the house for women.

Making the plea during her vetting with Parliament’s Appointment Committee, the Deputy Minister-Designate said she would be grateful if her plea is taken into consideration so women can have designated seats out of the 275 in parliament.

She stated that “We are 275 in parliament. We are pleading if the President will heed and if all the parties will hear at least, they should give us 75 seats for women”.

But reacting to her plea, the Chairman of the appointments committee, Joseph Osei-Owusu stated that, the said 75 seats should be earned through hard work and competitions and not “reservations”.

He added that any woman who wants a parliamentary seat, precisely his, would have to compete with him for it.

“I’m not willing to give my seat to any woman, if she deserves it, she can compete… I think women have had sufficient support and they say what men can do, they can do better.” He said.

Joseph Osei-Owusu, however, challenged Ghanaians, particularly women in parliament to work harder if they aspire to hold any political position in the country.