How are our women faring in the parliamentary election?
The anxiety and uncertainty surrounding the abilities of women to win parliamentary seats in previous elections resurfaced in this year’s election. This was after 29 women were elected from all the 10 regions to go to Parliament in the 2012 Election.
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Ghana’s current Parliament can boast of more women than before, especially as the 29 out of the 133 women who contested in the 2012 parliamentary election were elected. More women (136) also contested in last Wednesday’s parliamentary election, the highest number of women to have stood for parliamentary seats in Ghana’s political history.
The Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre, a women's human rights organisation, and other gender advocacy groups and organisations, have upheld the need to increase women’s participation and representation in both the local and national government structure.
At press time last Wednesday, reports from some collation centres indicated that some female sitting Members of Parliament (MPs) had lost their bid to retain their seats in the just-ended parliamentary election but some veterans managed to cling on to their seats, with new faces coming on board to add up to the list of elected female MPs.
Awutu Senya West
The incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the Awutu Senya West Constituency and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Hanna Tetteh, lost her parliamentary seat to the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) candidate, Mr George Nenyi Andah, writes Emmanuel Bonney.
At the declaration of final results, Ms Tetteh polled 25,654 of the valid votes cast as against 28,867 for Mr Nenyi Andah.
Hannah Tetteh lost her seat to George Nenyi Andah
Ms Tetteh first won the seat in 2000, but did not contest in 2004 and 2008. She, however, won it again in 2012, with 23,082 votes to defeat Lawyer John Kojo Ackah of the NPP, who polled 18,487 votes.
Supporters of the NPP told the Daily Graphic that Ms Tetteh was not a regular visitor to the area, and became only visible during electioneering periods.
Two women, Ms Freda Prempeh, incumbent MP for Tano North, and a newcomer, Madam Felicia Adjei, have so far won the parliamentary election in the Brong Ahafo Region, reports Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah, from Sunyani.
Ms Prempeh polled 19,815 votes to defeat the NDC candidate, Mr Apraku Lartey, who had 13,801, and three others, while Ms Adjei defeated her only challenger, Mr Alexander Gyan, with 15,266 to 14,210 to win the Kintampo South seat.
Zenator Rawlings
New faces
George Folley reports from the Eastern Region that Madam Ama Sey polled 21,433 votes to snatch the Akwatia Constituency seat from the incumbent MP, Mr Baba Jamal, who had 15,905 votes.
The defeated sitting MP contested the parliamentary seat in various elections before winning the seat in 2012, but unfortunately lost it to the NPP in last Wednesday’s parliamentary election.
Madam Tina Naa Ayerley Mensah won the Weija-Gbawe Constituency for the NPP, with 34,216 votes to defeat her closest contender, Madam Obuobia Darko-Opoku of the NDC, who polled 25,087 votes.
Another new entrant is Dr Zenator Agyeman Rawlings, first daughter of Ghana's former President Jerry John Rawlings, who retained the Klottey Korley seat for the NDC.
She polled 33,609, while her main contender, Mr Philip Kojo Addison, had 29,122 votes.
Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful
Ablekuma West
Another sitting MP, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, MP for Ablekuma West, retained her seat with 34,376 votes to beat her closest contender, Mrs Dinah Twum of the NDC, who polled 20,976 votes
In 2012, Ablekuma West was carved from Ablekuma South and the parliamentary election that year was a straight fight between two young women, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful and Madam Victoria Lakshimi Hammah of the NDC.
Della Russel Ocloo reports from Tema that efforts by Ms Ebi Bright, the NDC parliamentary candidate for Tema Central, to go to Parliament did not materialise, after she was defeated by the NPP candidate, Mr Kofi Brako. Ms Bright managed 12,973 votes, with Mr Brako winning the seat with 28,334.
Another sitting female MP, Mrs Benita Sena Okity-Duah, MP for the Ledzokuku Constituency in Accra, was also defeated by the NPP candidate, Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, who polled 45,259 votes, compared to 43,092 votes by the incumbent MP.