A panellist at a national consultative forum on post-election accountability has called for a constitutional review that will give backing to the operationalisation of the Affirmative Action (Gender Equality) Act.

The Coordinator of the Affirmative Action Act Coalition, Becky Ahadzi, who made the call, said the current state of the constitution did not help, as there was the need to review the constitution to give gender quotas to strengthen the AA Act.

She said the Act called for the segmentation of appointments such as the numbers of women in cabinet, as ministers, as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executive (MMDCEs) and in the boardrooms, among others, adding that the situation where all political appointments of women have been lumped together to give a percentage left much to be desired.

She was speaking as a panelist at a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) interventions post-Election 2024 forum organised by the Network for Women’s Rights Initiative (NETRIGHT) in partnership with STAR-Ghana Foundation under the project "Advancing Gender Responsive Governance and Inclusive Democracy in Ghana, last Tuesday."

Project

The project, which is supported by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), is aimed at evaluating the electoral process, identifying key successes, challenges and areas for improvement, to facilitate dialogue between key stakeholders, including the Electoral Commission (EC), political parties and civil society organisations, to enhance electoral accountability and governance.

The forum was, therefore, aimed at assessing the implementation of campaign promises and advocate accountability from elected and appointed officials, and propose recommendations for strengthening the country's electoral and governance systems.

A Programme Manager, NETRIGHT, Cynthia Sunu, said despite the country’s democratic gains, significant challenges persisted, particularly in advancing gender parity within governance structures.

She said the recently enacted Affirmative Action Act, 2024 (Act 1121), aimed at increasing women's participation in politics, was implemented for the first time; however, its immediate impact on representation remained limited.

Women continue to be underrepresented in decision-making spaces, holding only 39 out of 276 parliamentary seats, which is 14.1 per cent, with one constituency yet to be declared, while appointments to ministerial and other leadership positions remained disproportionately low. 

Disparities

These disparities, she said, underscored the structural barriers that hindered women's full participation in governance, including deeply ingrained socio-cultural norms, limited access to political financing, and systemic biases within political party structures.

She said beyond gender inequality, broader challenges such as voter suppression, misinformation and the opaque nature of political party financing continued to pose risks to the country's democratic progress and that strengthening institutional accountability, ensuring inclusive participation, and a political environment that upheld gender-responsive governance were critical to sustaining democracy and achieving long-term national development.

Dr Esther Ofei-Aboagye, a local governance expert who facilitated the discussions, said the initiative was rooted in NETRIGHT's feminist mobilising strategies, which prioritised amplifying the voices of women, young persons, and socially excluded groups to demand gender-responsive, inclusive and accountable governance.

Other panellists spoke on lessons from the just-ended elections, gender and taxation, taxation and digitalisation, as well as the need to move the country’s social protection system from the protective side to the preventive.

Thy said if care was not taken, more people would slip into poverty.