Skip to main content

LIBERIA JEWEL TAYLOR CHALLENGE ECOWAS PARLIAMENT ON GENDER EQUALITY

The vice President of Liberia has challenged the ECOWAS Parliament to push for appropriate implementation of the community protocol on gender and human equality across regional and local governments. Vice President Jewel Taylor made this request while concluding her keynote address presented before the Plenary at the official opening of the First Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament seating in Abuja. Jewel stated that Gender equality is a fundamental human right, yet women are underrepresented in power and decision making roles, women around the region do not fully experience equal rights and their potential as economic, social and sustainable change-agents remains untapped. She said “Excellency, special guest, distinguish members of the ECOWAS Parliament, as I close, permit me to say I will be remiss if I remain silent at this august gathering of regional leaders about the perennial issue of the lack of gender inequality in our local and regional body politics; “Today as we induct new parliamentarians, this fact is more glaring. There are 115 members of this body with sadly only 20 females, but the principles outlined in the existing protocols that there should be a minimum 30 percent of females. This means parliament is short of 15 more women representatives; “May I therefore request your indulgence to ensure by the rules guiding this parliament that the National representative to the ECOWAS Parliament send the requisite number of women in their delegation as a condition precedent for national teams to be seated, if this is taken, a number of women who would represent women across the region here in this august body will definitely increase. “I therefore recommend that this honourable body takes the political will to further implement the protocols which have been exceeded by demonstrating a full commitment to gender equality”. Continuing she added, “The issue of gender equality Mr. Speaker has been globally discussed at all levels in the sustainable development goals. I believe that it is now a consensus among all stakeholders that women must be included in all governance frameworks. The reasons is simple, if 50 percent of the world’s population is excluded from governance frameworks, you would have at your disposal only fifty percent energy, fifty percent of the innovation and fifty percent of the capacities for growth, for development; “Permit me to say that I believe it is the same today as it was when I was growing up, for example, a score of fifty percent is just not good enough to pass, but our Parliament, our National government and our Regional bodies have agreed to a minimum of a thirty percent quota which is still not a pass mark, but a good starting point which is yet to be enforced; “I pray we will see a new trust of gender equality in this era, for indeed this Parliament is the direct representative of community citizens, it is a right body to drive national governance to fulfil the obligations that they have exceed to; “Permit me to leave you with the solemn words of one of Africa’s greatest son, the late revolutionary leader, President Thomas Sankara, former President of Burkina Faso who said and I quote “the revolution in women’s liberation goes together, we do not talk of women’s emancipation as an act of charity, but because of the surge in human compassion, it is a basic necessity for the triumph of the revolution for women holding the other half of the sky, she concluded.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Buhari re-appoints Yakubu as INEC Chairman

  The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has re-appointed Prof Mahmood Yakubu as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission. The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday titled “President Buhari nominates Prof Yakubu as INEC chairman for second term in office.” The statement read, “President Muhammadu Buhari has presented the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, for a second term in office. “In a letter to President of the Senate, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, the President said in accordance with the provision of Section 154 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), ‘I am pleased to present for confirmation by the Senate, the nomination of Professor Mahmood Yakubu for appointment as Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for a second and final term.’ “Prof Yakubu was first appointed by P...
Post a Comment
Read more
Benin Republic set to review Constitution on terms of Political Office. In a year when many countries on the continent and in West Africa are changing their constitutions to allow for incumbent presidents to run yet again, the Beninese National Assembly has approved a major constitutional reform to discuss the precision on the two terms of office of the President of the Republic among other issues. Detailing the political situation of Benin at the floor of the ECOWAS Parliament, the country report presented contained that the constitutions review was to address the current political situation of the country marking a new Republic following two unsuccessful attempts. The report stated that “Benin Republic has after the April 2019 Legislative elections experienced a tense atmosphere following the frustrating feelings from political group who were unable to participate in the legislative elections, due to the inability to meet the requirement on the law on the constit...
Post a Comment
Read more
COVID-19 Abba Kyari transferred to Lagos Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, has arrived Lagos. He was transferred from Abuja to Lagos to continue his treatment for coronavirus. Kyari was conveyed to Nigeria’s commercial hub in an air ambulance,News men reports. The top government official tested positive after he returned from Germany. Nigeria currently has over 111 cases. Similarly, as the pandemic lingers, The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says it is looking for 6,000 people who have had close contact with persons infected with coronavirus.
Post a Comment
Read more