Few women were interested in MMDCE role – Dan Botwe

The Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development has said that government did not receive enough women from the pool of individuals who showed interest in the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executive (MMDCE) role.

Mr Dan Botwe said although the number of women nominated for the MMDCE position is not encouraging, 14% was the best the government could do.

Speaking to Evans Mensah on JoyNews’ PM Express Monday, it could have been worse had it not been for the intervention of President Akufo-Addo to forward more women for an appointment even though they did not appear before the vetting committee.

“Women’s engagement in the political limelight is something we have to continue to work at to make sure that we get many of our women interested and become active in the party.

“I’m sure, and I have seen some names who did not appear at the vetting, so it means that the president has gone ahead to get other ladies nominated for these positions even though they may not have appeared before the committee,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo, through the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, recently released a list of 260 MMDCE nominees after seven months of starting his second term in office.

Out of the 260 nominees, only 38 are females, whereas 222 are males.

Also, per the list, no woman was nominated in the Western and Ahafo Regions.

In the Greater Accra Region, eight females were nominated for the MMDCEs role.

In all the 16 Regions, the males far outnumbered female nominees.

Mr Botwe believes that a deliberate mechanism needs to be put in place to encourage more women in party politicking and to show interest in taking up political roles in the various local assemblies.

He also expressed support for a quota system to be developed to rope in more women in the country’s governance.