Know your female parliamentary candidates (5)
They are women who have resolved to serve their country by becoming law-makers in Parliament and we want you, our dear readers, to become familiar with all of them through weekly features.
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We hope the information we put out about them would, in some way, help voters make up their minds about the people they want to represent them in Parliament.
Mrs Barbara Oteng-Gyasi
NPP parliamentary candidate, Prestea Huni-Valley Constituency, Western Region
Till date most people who know her are still surprised at her decision to move into mainstream politics as she had carved a niche for herself as a corporate woman.
Mrs Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, however, told The Mirror that although she had not been very active on issues related to politics, she has worked with the Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA) on projects aimed at encouraging more women to play active roles in governance and politics.
“At different points in time, some of these women we have mentored or encouraged to be active in decision making at the district level have asked why we are not in politics and so I felt it was time to walk the talk and also set an example for others to follow," she explained.
She said she was more motivated to contest when she realised there were seven men contesting in the constituency.
“I just didn’t understand why not a single woman was contesting so I decided to join the race and eventually, I won.”
She admits that the journey through the primaries was tough as aside from joining the race later than her contenders, the men were also not happy to see a woman who was capable of winning compete with them.
Touching on the November 7 general elections, she said she was working hard to ensure that the NPP wins the seat.
“The constituency is very large with a voter population of about 106,000. Most of the communities are scattered so I have started moving to these communities and engaging them on the importance of increasing the space for women in politics and the contribution I can make to the constituency from my wide network in corporate Ghana.”
She said although the constituency produced a lot of resources including gold, cocoa and timber, it still lacked basic infrastructure.
The constituency has some of the major industries in our economy but the road network is deplorable so she was going to work hard to ensure that good roads are constructed in the constituency as well as other social amenities to improve the welfare of the people.
Mrs Oteng-Gyasi said she has already provided boreholes to some communities and also presented bags of cement and roofing sheets for the construction and rehabilitation of some schools in the constituency.
Another important issue she would want to tackle is the rate of teenage pregnancy which is quite alarming in the constituency and can be addressed by focusing the attention of the girls on education.
As she pointed out, “We need a lot more girls to be in school and become educated to help improve the situation of their families and indeed, the communities and the nation.”
Mrs Oteng-Gyasi had her O level education at the Mfanstiman Girls’ Secondary School before moving to Wesley Girls’ High School for her A’ level.
She graduated from the University of Ghana with a Bachelor of Laws Degree and was later called to the Ghana Bar after completing the Ghana School of Law.
She has worked with Unilever Ghana, GTP and SIC Insurance Company and is a former President of FIDA Ghana.
Currently she is the Head of Legal and Company Secretary of a multinational company.
Ms Felicia Adjei
NDC parliamentary candidate, Kintampo South Constituency
Ms Felicia Adjei is a citizen of Anyima in the Kintampo South District who had her early education at the Kintampo Methodist School.
She holds an Advance Certificate and a Diploma in Catering and Food and Nutrition from the Adventist Vocational Institute, now Techiman Campus of the Valley View University, and the Sunyani Polytechnics respectively.
She has also done other certificate courses in customer care, entrepreneurship among others.
Ms Adjei had her first job experience at the Catering Rest House, Sunyani and later relocated to the United States of America where she worked with companies such as Motorola and General Motors.
She is currently the chief executive officer of Adfall Company Limited and the Founder of Felicia Adjei Foundation.
The NDC parliamentary candidate for Kintampo South told The Mirror she hoped to maintain the seat which had traditionally belonged to the NDC in the upcoming elections.
She explained she was able to defeat Mr Datiakwa during the primaries with a dedicated team which was able to research into the needs and wants of the constituents.
“We organised programmes and designed packages to address the needs of the problems. Even before I was elected, I had been able to provide some communities with boreholes, corn mills among other amenities”.
Ms Adjei said it was to address the problems of people in the constituency that she set up the Felicia Adjei Foundation.
According to her, the objective of the foundation were to empower women through vocational training, youth development through education and sports, farming, supporting the physically-challenged and the provision of healthcare and other of community development.
Mrs Barbara Asher Ayisi
NPP parliamentary candidate, Cape Coast North Constituency
Mrs Barbara Asher Ayisi is the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for the Cape Coast North Constituency.
Mrs Ayisi describes herself as a versatile, industrious, ambitious and down to earth woman who believes in excellence in all that she does.
A product of the Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast, the University of Education and the University of Cape Coast with a Master of Philosophy in English Literature, Mrs Ayisi said she will not settle for anything less than a win.
Currently a teacher at the Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast, Mrs Ayisi began her political career at the University of Education Winneba, where she was the Women’s Commissioner and also part of National Union of Ghana Students.
She has been a polling station executive, an electoral area coordinator, assistant constituency secretary and a government appointee to the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly.
She says her main goals were to promote education, employment, development and support for women and the aged as well as the promotion of the creative arts.
“Education is a very dear to my heart and as a teacher for close to 14 years, it is sad to say that most of the students we find in grade A schools are not from Cape Coast. And this has affected us negatively,” she stated.
She said she would institute an award scheme for teachers in her constituency which will serve as a source of motivation to the teachers and also organise staff development programmes for them.
Mrs Ayisi said she would work to support students with training materials to aid learning, organise free classes during long vacations to prepare students for WASSCE and push the 30 per cent admission agenda for Cape Coasters into senior high school in Cape Coast.
On employment creation, she said she would encourage the youth to start business on their own even if it is small instead of looking for non-existent white-colour jobs.
She said unemployment was a serious canker in her constituency, noting that a lot of young people in the constituency were unemployed.
“I have people who want to invest in Fruits Juice making at the Effutu and Mpeasem electoral areas. This will create jobs in those areas,” she noted.
Mrs Ayisi said she also plans to support women with soft loans which they could invest in small-scale businesses and also help them acquire vocational training in various entrepreneurial ventures such as soap making, dressmaking and hairdressing.
On the creative arts, Mrs Ayisi, who also owns a modeling agency, said she would create a platform where recognised production houses in Cape Coast North could become a source of revenue and also provide employment for those in the arts.
“I will also help revive PANAFEST by working closely with the stakeholders. I will revive or organise expos where exhibitors can showcase and sell their products,” She pointed out.
Mrs Ayisi was the chaperone for Ghana’s Most Beautiful 2012 and 2013 and the CEO of Bash Afrik International, a modelling agency.
She said her Barbara Asher Foundation had helped teenage mothers, the aged and provided scholarship packages to individuals.