KEYNOTE ADDRESS DELIVERED BY HIS EXCELLENCY, THE VICE PRESIDENT, MR. JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA, OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA , AT A WOMEN’S FORUM TO CLIMAX 2009 WOMEN’S WEEK CELEBRATION ON 21ST APRIL, 2009 AT THE AUDITORIUM OF THE GHANA COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

Mr. Chairperson,
Your Excellency The First Lady,
Your Excellencies, Former First Ladies
Ministers of State,
Distinguished Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Our Invaluable Collaborators,
Our Most Respected Queen Mothers and Magajias,
Distinguished Invited Guests,
Colleagues in the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is indeed an honour and privilege for me to be part of this forum of women from various walks of life which seeks to mark the celebration of the Women’s Week under the theme: ‘Women and Men working together for a Better Ghana’. I am reliably informed that today’s gathering commemorates the establishment of the national women’s machinery inception in Ghana 34 years ago. This was after the United Nations had declared 1975 as the International Year of Women and consequent the declaration of 1975-1985 as the Decade for Women to highlight to the poor and unsatisfactory conditions in which majority of the world’s women found themselves.

In 1975 therefore, each Member State of the United Nations was required as a matter of urgency to create a body responsible for ensuring that the needs of women were met and also integrated into the development process. The National Council on Women and Development (NCWD) was therefore created in response to the UN directive.

PRESS RELEASE
The UN General Assembly designated 1975 as International Women’s year and the following decade was devoted to sustained National, Regional and International efforts to implement the World Plan of Action which emanated from the International Conference on women in Mexico.

Ghana Government in response to the requirement to establish a body for gender equality, development and peace, established the National Council on Women and Development in April 1975 under Decree 322 to promote advancement of women in Ghana. Since then the celebration of the Women’s Week has been marked by a week-long of activities until 2001.

In actualization of His Excellency, President J.E.A Mills’ commitment to the Empowerment of Women and Children in Ghana the Ministry of Women and Childrens Affairs has revived the event and in commemoration of this year’s Women’s Week celebration, MOWAC is organizing a week-long programme to create awareness on women’s rights, the encouragement of women’s participation in decision-making and of relevant government policies for women’s welfare.

line-up of activities:

FRIDAY, 17TH APRIL, 2009

• Float through some principal streets of Accra, beginning from Kwame Nkrumah Circle at 6:30 am

MONDAY, 20TH APRIL, 2009

• Press Conference/Re-launch of Women’s Week celebration at the Ministry of Information Press Conference Room at 11:30am.

TUESDAY, 21ST APRIL, 2009

H. E. The Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Mr. John Dramani Mahama,
Excellencies Former First Ladies,
Hon. Ministers of State,
Hon. Members of Parliament,
Excellencies Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Niimei, Naamei, Nana Nom, Togbewo, Mamawo
Distinguished Invited Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am highly honoured to welcome you to this forum which climaxes this year’s Women’s Week Celebrations which the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) has revived after 8 years of non commemoration under the previous Administration. Inspite of the time and resources at our disposal to organise the activities more elaborately are limited, we thought it was better to take on a little scale this time and prepare towards a grand celebration next year, which incidentally also marks Beijing+15.

Mr. Chairman, We heralded the commemoration with a float, last Friday, 17th April 2009, followed with a press conference yesterday and will be rounding up with clean-up activities, in regional and district capitals and prayers and services in our mosques and churches this Sunday. I wish to congratulate all women of Ghana for their contribution to the socio-economic and political development of our Nation, Ghana. I salute all our gallant women including those who have passed on, for their role and contributions towards the emancipation of women and the promotion of gender equality, development, and peace since Ghana’s Independence.