Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia
Vice-President and Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has pledged to prioritise the needs of women and the elderly should he emerge victorious in the December 7 general elections.
Dr. Bawumia intends to achieve this through pragmatic policies tailored to the needs of these groups. In his 2024 manifesto, the Vice-President plans to fully implement the Affirmative Action Act, which was recently passed, and establish a Women’s Trade Empowerment Fund (WoTEF) to support women-owned businesses. He also aims to ensure gender parity in the awarding of government scholarships, further improve the maternal health care programme, pursue a “Women in Diplomacy” initiative for Ghanaian women to assume more leadership roles in international organisations, and promote and protect women’s rights in the workplace.
The NPP flagbearer is committed to enforcing existing sexual harassment laws, enabling mothers to seamlessly re-enter the workforce by prioritising, in partnership with the private sector, the establishment of daycare centres near workplaces, including marketplaces, and enforcing existing regulations on maternity leave governance.
Dr. Bawumia also plans to establish an SME Bank to meet the specific financing needs of small and medium-sized businesses, which employ over 80% of Ghanaians. According to the Vice-President, the SME Bank and Women Traders Empowerment Fund will boost women’s businesses and improve capital flow for small and medium enterprises.
For the elderly, Dr. Bawumia intends to pass an Ageing Act for the care and protection of the elderly; promote geriatric care training programmes to address the growing need for elder care; implement policies on the establishment of homecare, nursing homes, and rehabilitation services, including assisted living and old-age community living; and create elder-specific social assistance schemes to cover those not currently covered under existing programmes such as LEAP.
The government has already doubled cash grants for beneficiary households under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme. In June this year, the government released One Hundred and Three Million, Two Hundred and Fifty-One Thousand, Seventy-Two Ghana Cedis (GHC 103,251,072.01) to pay the three hundred and twenty-four thousand and seventy-three (324,073) beneficiary households.
The Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection (MoGCSP), in a statement dated Thursday, June 27, disclosed that the upward adjustment in the LEAP grant to beneficiary households follows a prior 100% increase in June 2023. According to the ministry, this significant increase in financial support underscores the government’s commitment to poverty alleviation and improving the quality of life for the nation’s most disadvantaged citizens.
