The Gender and Social Protection minister, Nana Oye Lithur, has taken a swipe at critics alleging she has shunned being a human rights activist after becoming a sector minister.

Nana Oye Lithur recently came under attack for signing a petition to free the three jailed Montie FM contemnors, an act that made a women’s group, Women of Faith and Substance call for her resignation.

According to the group, Mrs. Lithur’s involvement in the petition defeats the purpose of her position as a Gender Minister because she is supposed to protect women as part of her duties. But she has fought back, insisting the signing of the petition was done with good conscience.

Mrs Lithur’s comments come in the wake of a recent incident involving controversial pastor Daniel Obinim, which her Ministry has taken keen interest. The Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection has reported the founder and leader of the International God’s Way Church, to the Accra Regional office of the Domestic Violence and Victims’ Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, for publicly flogging two young adults in his church for fornication.

Nana Oye Lithur in an exclusive interview with Agoo Tv’s Maame Broni noted she’s still a human rights activist.

“I am still a human rights activist. I may not be seen as a neutral activist because of my position now but until I leave this earth, I will always stick true to my vision, mission and value of helping my neighbor and stretching it to helping the community and using my God giving talent, my capabilities, my competencies, my skills and my experience to make the lives of other people better.

“I see my work in public service as an opportunity to serve humanity and particularly Ghana though others may see it as an achievement or an attestation. It was a difficult situation and a decision to take but I reflected on it and said that, it provides an opportunity for me to step into government and use my knowledge to better the lives of people. It doesn’t matter who is in power, my duty is to serve humanity and I will forever be a human rights activist. I cannot throw away my 23 years’ experience in law,” Oye Lithur told Maame Broni.