GROUPS ROOT FOR HAJIA ALIMA (PAGE 15)

Four women’s groups in the Brong Ahafo Region have passionately appealed to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the December elections, to seriously consider choosing Hajia Alima Mahama, the Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, as his running mate.
They expressed the hope that with the pair of Nana Akufo-Addo and Hajia Mahama, Ghanaian women and, indeed, all girls who had attained the voting age of 18, would definitely vote for the NPP to retain power, come December.
Speaking on behalf of the groups in an interaction with the Daily Graphic in Sunyani, the Brong Ahafo Regional Organiser of the NPP, Madam Felicia Adoma, maintained that Hajia Mahama possessed the qualities needed to partner the flag bearer to win the presidency in the upcoming elections.
She further explained that the minister, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nalerigu, had served diligently and conscientiously wherever she had been assigned by President Kufuor in his administration, noting that “this is a clear testimony that Hajia is capable of going beyond ministerial portfolios to become the Vice-President of Ghana”.
According to Madam Adoma, the Nalerigu MP had been a role model for girls in the country, especially those from the northern sector, and that her position had served as a catalyst for an increase in girl-child enrolment in schools in the north.
The NPP Regional Organiser said if Hajia Mahama became the running mate of Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP won the elections, many more girls would be encouraged to attend school, in the hope of becoming future leaders.
She pointed out that as the Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Hajia Mahama had impressed upon the President to look for assistance for pregnant women in the country and that explained why President Kufuor also fought tooth and nail to solicit financial help from the British government for free medical care for pregnant women which had just started under the National Health Insurance Scheme.
Madam Adoma also indicated that Hajia Mahama had made sure that many girls in the country who, hitherto, were vulnerable were gainfully employed after learning trades such as dressmaking, batik, tie and dye making, hairdressing and others.
According to her, the MP was still working around the clock to get those girls who were still engaged in menial jobs in the cities, especially those from the north, to learn trades to reduce their poverty levels.