Good policy gone awry

Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo Thinking Aloud Apr - 02 - 2015 , 04:45

The flood of protests, both spontaneous and induced, over the proposal by the national executive of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to ward off any male contestant from the constituencies occupied by females in the name of affirmative action underlines the lack of congruence between rhetoric and reality when it comes to the issues of gender- parity. Many of us will shout to resist any reference as being gender insensitive or unwilling to encourage women to aspire to greater heights.

What most of us do not seem to be aware of is the provision under Article 33(5) that “the rights, duties, declarations and guarantees relating to the fundamental human rights and freedoms specifically mentioned in this chapter shall not be regarded as excluding others not specifically mentioned which are considered to be inherent in a democracy and intended to secure the freedom and dignity of man.”