The Head of Secretariat of NETRIGHT, Patricia Blankson, has urged the ruling government to ensure the fulfillment of the party's manifesto, especially promises made to women, children, and the marginalized.

According to her, all the women's groups in the country, including NETRIGHT, aim to track the progress of these promises made to the nation and follow their implementation.

Speaking during a high-level stakeholders’ forum to analyze gender and social inclusion in political party manifestos in Ghana on January 30, 2025, dubbed “Advancing Gender Responsive Governance and Inclusive Democracy in Ghana,” she mentioned NDC’s policies such as the Women Development Bank, National Apprenticeship Programme, Achieving Equity for the Youth, Women, and Persons with Disabilities, and expressed interest in seeing their implementation.

“We decided to take the various manifestos of the political parties on things that they promised to do for women, children, and the marginalized.

“So, we came here today to share what we monitored in their manifesto, especially the NDC, so we aim to monitor how these policies will be implemented.

“We will develop a tracker to monitor all their policies, especially for the next four years. We are not going to wait until the election before we come out and talk about it, so at least we will be doing regular checkups to see how best we can access these policies, especially the NDC,” she said.

She also decried the lower rate of women's representation in parliament.

According to her, she aims to see a 30% representation of women in the NDC government.

The project, under the STAR Ghana Foundation’s Inclusive Elections and Accountable Governance initiative, aims to address these disparities.

The initiative seeks to empower women, young persons, and socially excluded groups to demand a more inclusive and accountable governance system.

A Development Practitioner, Rachel Gyabaah, said more detailed plans should be drafted regarding the implementation of policies aimed at increasing women’s participation in decision-making processes.

“This includes specifying the percentage of substantive ministerial positions allocated to women versus deputy roles.

“This should include clear metrics for tracking progress as well as a timeline for achieving specific targets,” she noted.

She recommended that while the establishment of the Women’s Development Bank was a positive step, additional support mechanisms were necessary to ensure that women entrepreneurs could access resources effectively.

“The government of the day should collaborate with civil society organizations (CSOs) that focus on gender equality and social inclusion to enhance community engagement and grassroots support for Gender Equality and Social Inclusion initiatives,” she said.

AM/KA

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