Promise To Pass Ghana’s Affirmative Action Law Still Not Delivered

The former Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Bampong, under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2012, promised in its manifesto to pass the Ghana’s Affirmative Action Bill into Law, also the current Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Cynthia Mamle Morrison, in its 2016 NPP manifesto, also pledged to enact the Affirmative Action Bill.

However, fast-track to two-months to the end of 2020, the Passage of Ghana’s Affirmative Bill into Law has not been made.

Speaking on PM Express, Madam Cynthia Morrison, stated that the bill is in the final stages. “It is now with the Attorney General again. We took it to cabinet and then, my brothers and sisters with disability wrote to me specifically, to say that they have to be part of it. Even though it is women, they want their role and so, we had to add them to it and it had to go back to cabinet and to the Attorney General,” she stated.

Meanwhile, former Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Bampong intimated that the Affirmative Action Bill was drafted during the tenure of John Dramani Mahama under a 21-working committee made up of Civil Society Organizations and stakeholders. Though the Bill was not enacted into law as promised, she, however, posited that NPP inherited a Draft Bill by the NDC.

According to Abantu for Development and African Women’s Development Fund, an international women’s non-governmental organization and Civil Society Organizations, it is, worrying that the Affirmative Action Bill has not been enacted into law after both leading parties in Ghana promised to pass the Bill into Law.

In a press statement released by ABANTU Development and African Women’s Development Fund, in June, 2020, as part of its advocacy, detailed the history of the Affirmative Action Bill. “Ghana began its quest for the Affirmative Action Law as far back as 1998, where guidelines on the law were passed by Cabinet. However, as at June 2020, the Bill has still not been passed. This is due to low commitment on the part of stakeholders towards pushing for the passage of the Bill into Law,” ABANTU stated.

Nonetheless, both NDC and NPP are seeking to speed up the passage of the Bill into Law, when voted for in the December 7, 2020 polls.

Touching on the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) intervention program, the Country Director of SEND Ghana, George Osei Bimpeh has intimated that, according to a research conducted by SEND Ghana, the citizens demand and problems surrounding LEAP were not addressed to the fullest by the two largest political parties, NPP and NDC in their 2020 manifesto.

According to the Country Director, the citizens in the deprived areas addressed that, they would want whoever who wins elections in 2020, to expand the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) intervention program to cover all eligible persons.

Weaving through the NPP Manifesto, the expectations of LEAP by the citizens were not addressed in the manifesto. However, the NDC did not inform the public in its manifesto on the target. Though the promise in the ‘People’s Manifesto’ is a type of LEAP initiative, which may address a part of the LEAP program, it does not guarantee the expectations of the people.

The citizens also demanded from the political parties an increased financial support to the beneficiaries of the LEAP initiative by 100 percent, when determining the grant amount for the citizens eligible for LEAP, the next government in 2021 must consider the size of their households and also, introduce complementary services to capture other needs of beneficiaries. However, these demands and request by the citizens were not addressed directly by the NPP and NDC in their manifestos.

According to the Country Director of SEND Ghana, George Osei Bimpeh, the red section indicates that the party did not address or were not responsive to the demands by the citizens concerning the LEAP program, while yellow indicates that, “they said something but not in direct response. We see it as something that is an alternate solution, it addresses a part of the problem in a different way,” he added.

The Green section, addresses the manifesto demands of the citizens while, the white section indicates the program or sector being addressed.