The National Women’s Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Otiko Afisa Djaba, says Ghana’s growth from a lower-income to a middle-income status can be only be achieved if women are empowered to go to into farming and trading, which are the two major areas that drive the growth of every nation.
According to her, most Ghanaian women who are supposed to work and move the nation forward are dying in labour due to lack of access to free maternal healthcare delivery and malfunctioning of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which should be the fundamental right to every woman in the country.
“All those women who are supposed to have maternal healthcare delivery are not having and they are dying including their babies are all princesses and princes of mother Ghana and we must ensure that we bring back the ‘free maternal healthcare’ and the NHIS in full force.
“It is not about numbers, it is access to quality healthcare delivery so that the woman and her children and family will have good healthcare delivery to be productive to mother Ghana and increase growth.”
Madam Otiko Djaba made the remark in an interview with journalists on the sideline of an event to commemorate the International Women’s Day celebration organized by the NPP women’s wing on Tuesday in Accra.
In attendance were scores of women groups made up of the civil society organizations, politicians, human rights activists, nurses, the disabled, widows and kayayes amongst others.
Mad. Otiko Djaba bemoans Ghana’s growth has reduced drastically to 3.5 per cent including the falling of agriculture which is the said to be the engine of growth for the economy of any nation.
She lamented the malfunctioning of the NHIS system, calling for a complete restoration of the scheme.
She urges all women in Ghana to rise up and speak for themselves in order to bring about the change they deserve.
For his part, Elizabeth Sackey, Member of Parliament for Okaikwei North Constituency, advised the women to use the day to reflect on the struggles of womanhood and emulate the gestures of powerful women in the society who have distinguished themselves through hardwork and perseverance.
Meanwhile, Madam Otiko Djaba and Mrs. Stella Agyapong, C.E.O of Oman Fm and Net2 Television, used the occasion to donate some relief items to the disabled, widows and Kayayes who trooped to the venue to observe the International Women’s Day Celebration.
The items included 2 bags of mosquito net, 12 bags of ladies clothes, 2 bags of men’s clothes, 10 boxes of toilet soap, 10 boxes of hand sanitizer, one box of mackerel, six bottles of frytol cooking oil, 32 cans of tin tomatoes and 8 bags of rice.
According to Otiko Djaba, the items are intended to put a smile on faces of the vulnerable women in the society especially during the International Women’s Day Celebration.
By Joseph Kobla Wemakor|Accra|Ghana