Ketu South MP Dzifa Abla Gomashie has condemned the Majority Leader’s comments regarding Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, labelling them as culturally and professionally inappropriate.
Her criticism follows remarks made by Alexander Afenyo-Markin during a debate where he suggested that the selection of Prof. Opoku-Agyemang, a woman in her 70s, as the NDC’s running mate, signifies a lack of succession planning and visionary leadership within the party.
The Minority caucus expressed dismay at Afenyo-Markin’s refusal to retract his statement, leading to a disruption in the debate and the suspension of proceedings by the Second Deputy Speaker, Andrew Asiamah Amoako.
Upon the resumption of the session, Afenyo-Markin withdrew his statement, acknowledging that his comments about Prof. Opoku-Agyemang’s age were not appropriate.
“Colleagues expressed a concern about the issue of age. Mr Speaker, the submission was to the effect that our opponents don’t have a clear succession plan for the future [and] not to denigrate their running mate based on age. So I withdraw that aspect of the submission that referred to her age as the basis of my contention.”
In an interview on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News, Gomashie denounced Afenyo-Markin’s remarks, describing them as unfair and unacceptable both culturally and professionally.
She emphasised the need to respect Prof. Opoku-Agyemang’s accomplishments and urged her colleagues to choose their words carefully.
Gomashie stressed that Ghanaian women would not tolerate any attempts to undermine Prof. Opoku-Agyemang’s achievements and urged for respectful discourse in political engagements.
We the women of Ghana will not tolerate anybody running one of the [women] who has dared to achieve what we want, to bring them down with language that is not edifying, that is not celebratory. That is not empowering we will not sit down and have that happen because there are too few women who have dared to do the things that we want to do.
“Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, our president is older. Is he not still leading this country? All these that he has done abysmally. Do we say that we should clear him off and call him all kinds of things because he is over 80, NO.
“All I am saying is that people should be guided and watch their tongue when they are speaking about Prof Naana Opoku-Agyeman because I will not take that sitting down…and also in that chamber even when we are doing politics let’s be guided how we do the politics,” she said.
Source: myjoyonline.com
