Opinions of Monday, 15 June 2020

Columnist: Eric Danso

She took her husband's place

MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency, Lydia Seyram Alhassan MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency, Lydia Seyram Alhassan

On November 21, 2018, the NPP lost a great personality and a Member of Parliament at the Ayawaso West in Accra, Emmanuel Kyeremanteng Agyarko. The man was a pharmacist, medical doctor, and a politician born on December 10, 1957, at Odumase Krobo in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Emmanuel Agyarko worked as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Food and Drugs Authority headquarters in Accra. May he return if possible.

We all know that after his demise, In January 2019 his wife Miss. Lydia Seyram Alhassan fought for the same seat at Ayawaso West and won. Remember this is not a traditional seat.

This is an indication that the woman was never lazy in her marriage. She got all the qualities like her husband to replace him. And we can all see that she is doing amazingly well even in this pandemic season. It is obvious that the woman was interested in her husband's job and learned it very well while the man was alive.

Irrespective of the many brouhahas around the election and her swearing-in, she never gave up and stood on her feet. Such a confident and bold woman. Putting politics aside, I want some section of women around the world takes some lessons from this. Some women see marriage as a retirement period in their lives.

Some think its the sole responsibility of the man to provide for the family, yes it's true to some extent but what if the man is no more or loses his job.
Many women are not interested in whatever their husbands are doing for a living and in times of uncertainties, they find themselves wanting.

Some are forced to move back to the village because that is where they can afford. This situation puts the children's education in shambles. Some are forced to move out of the Governments designated buildings which they used to occupy because of the man's job. Some choose to sleep around for survival which is very shameful.

A man could work so hard to build his own business to take care of his family. The so-called housewife would drive to the market to visit her friends at their shops and have a long unnecessary conversation, go for the kids and come home to prepare food for the husband.

Later when the man is no more the company would be left in the hands of the staffs who do not know the sweat that went into creating such a company and as we all know if it's not for you, the attitude towards it is different and the wife does not have an idea how things work there. Eventually, the company collapses and life becomes hard for the woman and the children.

Marriage does not cease you from achieving your individual dreams, it's only a few men who would not support hardworking wives and you know the society even despise that.

Now Miss. Lydia Seyram Alhassan could take very good care of the seven children man left behind, even move to better accommodation because she has what it takes to do that.

Let me end with this sad story.

A woman who used to work at the airport was married to a man who lives and works in Abroad. The man told the woman to stop work and stay at home and he will take care of her needs because she is too exposed to other men. It was not a small decision for the woman but what could she do. she did.

After a few years of leaving the job, the man started changing and the support was not coming as it uses to be. The woman became frustrated and since she could not stay idle she started trading in cassava business.

The work was so tedious for her and through that, she was knocked down by a serious illness and eventually died.

Sorry to make you feel sad. Now a good and smart looking woman was reduced to selling cassava and later died through that. That is why as a woman you have your personal dreams to keep and marriage cannot retire you from achieving that dream.

Keep your dreams intact because marriage met you at a point in your life and to the men, let's keep supporting our hardworking wives to achieve their dreams because the husbands of Alice Walton, Serena Williams, Patricia Poku-Diaby, Theresa Oppong-Beeko, Kate Quartey Papafio, Gifty Lamptey, Grace Amey-Obeng, etc would be walking in town with their chests out in confidence.

See your marriage as an opportunity to develop your life. We don't marry for the reason of just childbearing and the rest that we all know but we marry to make our individual lives better.

May God be with you and give you the wisdom to make the right choices all the time to make your lives better.

On the Women's International Day, Miss. Lydia Seyram Alhassan got this to say "Women, we can achieve higher heights by being bold and confident. Let's take advantage of the numerous opportunities around us". This woman is worth emulating.

Your marriage is also one. Have a great day.