Speaker urges House to pass Affirmative Action Bill
Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, Speaker of Parliament has urged the legislature to expedite action on the process to pass the Affirmative Action Bill which has been with Parliament over years.
He said that the bill was long overdue to be enacted into law since women have proven their abilities in all sphere of human endeavors.
Prof. Oquaye said this when he hosted Civil Society Organisation (CSO) pushing for the passage of the bill to a breakfast meeting.
The meeting was held a few weeks after the CSOs spearheaded by STAR Ghana Foundation embarked on a walk in both Tamale and Accra to draw attention to the snail-pace process the bill was facing in Parliament.
However, Prof. Oquaye reassured them that the House was committed to the passage of the bill which had been with Parliament for over a decade.
He said the expediency of the passage of the bill was given oxygen by the 1992 Constitutional provision which guaranteed equality for all as soon as practicable when apex law comes into force.
Prof. Oquaye said it has been over 27 years since the Constitution came into force, yet, nothing much had been done to bridge the gender gap and also reduced marginalisation of vulnerable groups.
He said it was sad that because Ghana had not been championing the cause of women, a ranking from International Parliamentary Union placed the country at 142 from 193 countries adding that it was high to grant women a space in political, economical and social landscape.
Both the Majority and Minority leaders agreed with the Speaker and agreed to work together to see to the passage of the bill.
Both accepted as matter of principle to accelerate the process to cloth the bill with legal authority in order for the marginalised, especially, women to come out of their closet and impact positively on society, however, few cobwebs to do with political representation and other issues became the bone of contention of the process.
Mrs Sheila Premo-Minka, Convener of Umbrella CSOs for the passage of the bill, gave an overview of the current disposition of the group and also helped to clarify few of the cobwebs in helping to move the process forward.
By Lawrence Markwei
