Dr. Rosina Kailey Foli, a senior lecturer at the Department of Political Science at the University of Ghana, has stated that the contributions of women to the development of the country should not be overlooked.

She explained that with the current figures showing that women form more than 50% of the country’s population, it would be untenable for Ghana would want to leave this important class of the nation behind in terms of development.

Speaking on the subject of ‘Inclusive Elections – The Critical Role of Women’ at a forum on democracy and governance in Accra, Dr. Rosina Foli said that women possess very useful skills that could go a long way to help a nation like Ghana develop and advance better.

“No country can develop if it decides to leave behind 51% of its population and just go along with 49%. We need both to work together and I would say that a woman has a lot of skills which we have cultivated over time right from the private sphere; the domestic sphere – the kitchen politics, which unfortunately we have been assigned to say that is our place.

“We have built skills from there. There are women who can multitask: caring for the kid, taking care of the home, running a business for the home at the same time, making sure that people turn out to be who they are today. So, these skills can help a country develop, and for a developing country, we need all these skills to come into play,” she said.

The West Africa Democracy Radio and National Endowment for Democracy (WADR) Democracy and Governance Forum was on the theme, “Strengthening Democratic Processes: Ghana’s Preparedness for Free, Fair, and Transparent Elections.”

The forum is ahead of Ghana’s most anticipated December 7 general elections, West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR), a regional broadcaster based in Dakar – Senegal, organised the event as a platform for discourse around the principles of democracy in the Ghanaian context.

This discussion took place under a joint project with the National Endowment for Democracy NED tagged Strengthening Democracy Through Media.

During the hybrid forum on October 2, 2024, at Mensvic Hotel, Accra – Ghana, speakers and participants, including civil society activists, legal and international relations experts, political scientists, academics, youth and women groups, representatives from political parties, the electoral commission and the media deliberated on the theme of the event.

“For WADR, as Ghana, considered one of Africa’s most stable and flourishing democracies goes to the polls on December 7, 2024, holding this forum is timely and important as observers acknowledge a sharp back sliding of democratic practices such as human rights violations, media suppression and censorship, disregard for laws, electoral disputes, contested constitutional amendments, and undemocratic change of government amongst many others.

“With Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea under military rule, reports of attempted coups in The Gambia, Sierra Leone, twice in Guinea Bissau and recently in Benin democracy continues to be challenged in the subregion,” a statement from the WADR said.



According to Agnes John-Thomasi, WADR’s Station Director, “The mission of the project is to have ECOWAS member states uphold democracy, and once again, become a region that commands respect, remains relevant and embodies resilience amid the growing adversities.”

Compelling this change, according to her, entails promoting a participatory and inclusive society, exemplifying good governance including but not limited to elections, democratic deliverables, respect and protection of human rights, equality as well as press freedom among others.

It should be noted that the West Africa Democracy Radio and National Endowment for Democracy project aims to promote democracy and its principles across the subregion, essentially highlighting Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea Bissau through the broadcast of the radio’s flagship governance program ‘CITIZENS HOUR’.

Meanwhile, catch up on the latest episode of The Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV with Etsey Atisu and his guest, Chief Alhassan Andani, below:





AE