“I am the new face in the national women’s organiser race of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) who is ready to sacrifice for the CPP and women in the country,’’ declared Harriet Anita Abaidoo as she filed her nomination to contest the position in the party’s national delegates congress.

Ms Abaidoo, who said she had paid her dues in the party as the Okaikoi South Constituency Secretary, Constituency Chairperson and the 2012 parliamentary candidate for the CPP for Okaikoi South, added that she was confident the delegates will endorse her.

On board
When asked what she intended to do when elected as the National Women’s Organiser, she said her youthfulness, vitality and passion would enable her to execute her role perfectly.

She said in an interview with the Daily Graphic after she had filed her nomination that her motivation to contest the position was fired by the role women played in the party during its inception in the early 1950s and 60s to win elections.

The race for the national women’s organiser position is going to be a keen one between two strong women, Ms Abaidoo and Hajia Ayisha Zalia Futa.

Nominations
As nominations closed on September 4, Ms Abaidoo and Hajia Futa, were the only people who had filed to contest the position.
Ms Abaidoo said she was enthralled when she visited old CPP activists, especially women, who recalled the role they played in making the party attractive to Ghanians who kept voting for the party until its overthrow in 1966.

Since the overthrow of the CPP, she said, women had been marginalised and no government had sent as many women to parliament as the CPP did by giving quotas to them to represent women in Parliament.
She also said she had been inspired by Ghanaian women leaders’ bid to increase female participation in politics and social activities.

Disconnect
Ms Abaidoo said presently there was no link between rural women and their urban counterparts; that was why she wanted to take the mantle as women’s leader and ensure more collaboration between them.

She indicated that increased women’s participation in national issues would help position the party to win more votes from the electorate and cause a stir in the 2016 election. She said that was imperative since in 2016 the CPP would celebrate the golden anniversary of the party’s overthrow in the 1966 coup d’etat.

The women’s wing of the party, Ms Abaidoo added, had a big role to play in making the party more attractive to floating voters.

Teamwork
She said teamwork would be her watchword so when elected, she would form teams to help her reach out to the constituencies with special programmes.
She also said the outreach programmes would be in the form of empowering women with self-employment skills such as soap making, which would allow them to contribute towards the party and assist them to advance their political careers.

She said the women in both the rural and urban centres would be organised into cells of three to 20 women which would assist the recruitment drive of the party.

Ms Abaidoo said until women in the country could easily place food on their tables, were healthy and had access to shelter, education and jobs to keep them busy, she and the CPP would not rest on their oars.