At Yesterday's's WiLDAF sponsored Presidential Dialogue on Women, on the theme 'Vision of Political Parties for Women in the 2008 Elections and Beyond', Dr Mahamudu Bawumia outlined Nana Akufo-Addo's programme to enhance the creation of equal oportunities for Ghanaian women, while showing that the NPP has done more for women in the last 8 years than the previous regimes.

The New Patriotic Party's Vice Presidential Candidate faced four other running mates, representing the NDC, PNC, CPP and DFP. Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, who initially showed up for the CPP, left with the excuse that he had to travel and he was represented by Dr Abu Sakara, his running mate. Mr John Mahama of the NDC, after delivering the NDC's 10-minute opening statement, said he had to leave to prepare for a trip to South Africa and was replaced by Hannah Tetteh, the Communications Director of the NDC. However, Ms Tetteh's participation drew a few protests from the audience when she was often spotted consulting her mobile phone, texting and reading text messages during the Q&A session of the forum, when she took over from Mr Mahama.

At the forum, which was televised live on GTV, Dr Bawumia told the audience that the "treatment of women is very personal to me," explaining, "How would you like your mother to be treated? How would you like your daughter to be treated?" He stated that to deal comprehensively with the old problem of discrimination against women is to deal with the three-headed issue of access to education, health and credit. He said, "Educating women is education a nation; empowering women is empowering Ghana. And that it calls for more than a moral requirement."

The NDC promised to offer 40% of all ministerial and top government appoinments to women, with the CPP and PNC, pushing it higher to 50%.

But, Dr Bawumia pointed out that currently 80% of female parliamentarians are NPP and that the NPP has fielded more women parliamentary candidates than all the other parties. The Constitution says that more than half of cabinet positions must go to Members of Parliament.

He also mentioned access to healthcare, which has seen over 217,000 pregnant women registered freely on the National Health Insurance Scheme from July 3 - August 31, when free maternal care was introduced. He added that the NHIS also covers uniquely women diseases such as *** and cervical cancers, which are otherwise very expensive to treat.

On financial inclusion of women, Dr Bawumia said the Women's Ministry has disbursed through the Women's Development Fund 11.3 million Ghana Cedis to nearly 170,000 women nationwide. He envisaged the E-Zwich banking system as expanding access to financial services to majority of women, especially rural women in the next 3 years.

On the issue of violence against women, Dr Bawumia mentioned the Domestic Violence Act, which as Attorney-General, Nana Akufo-Addo partly sponsored. He saw the NPP Manifesto promise to double the number of police officers from 25,000 to 50,000 within the next four years as one of the clearest ways of increasing community and individual security.

He said the NPP believes that equal access to education from the basic level to the tertiary level is one of the most sustainable way to deal with gender discrimination, that is why the NPP has made education and access to affordable, quality education for all a priority. He mentioned interventions as capitation grant and school feeding programme, which will be both extended to the senior high school level and all primary schools, respecitively, as some of the most effective ways of supporting single parents and poor families to educate their wards.

Beyond that, the NPP is very proactive in creating role models for girls to look up to and seek to emulate. The appointments of the first female Chief Justice, Deputy IGP, Director General of Immigration, Government Statistician, University Vice Chancellor as some of the moves made by the NPP to show that women who work hard will be encouraged to get to the top.

The NPP Vice Presidential Candidate said because the NPP saw the need to make a special case for women and children that is why the Women and Children's Ministry was set up and a Minister of State for Girl Child Education was also established. he said that by the time the NP took office in 2001, the male/female ration in basic schools was around 2:1, about 40%. Today, it is around 94%.

Source: GNA