By Mabinty M. Kamara
The gender parity group 50/50 has expressed disappointment with President Julius Maada Bio for not appointing “enough” women in his latest cabinet reshuffle.
Only one woman was among the 17 appointments announced by the president last Thursday in the person of Manti Tarawally who becomes Minister of Gender and Children’s Affairs which has been separated from the ministry of social welfare.
This has left the 50/50 Group hot under the collar. They say they are concerned about the “New Direction” government’s commitment to backing its rhetoric of women’s empowerment with action.
“We remind the government of pages 46 - 47 of their manifesto and their National Development Plan, which expresses the importance of the establishment of a Gender Commission; commits to ensuring more women in leadership positions in government; and, to strengthening legislative frameworks to promote gender balance, including electoral frameworks and quotas with sanctions legislated and enforced,” the campaign group said in a statement released on Friday, a day after the announcement of the reshuffle.
The 50/50 Group, which describes itself as a non-partisan organisation, advocates and campaigns for an increased political participation and equal representation of women in decision-making processes and initiatives at all levels in Sierra Leone. It specifically envisions equal representation and participation of women and men in public life.
Unlike other gender rights campaign groups, 50/50, as its name implies, seeks the attainment of representation in terms of gender at 50 percent male and 50 percent female, particularly in parliament and local government. It also hopes for a female president.
Besides the promises in his party’s manifesto, President Bio has been quoted repeatedly as having committed to meeting the global 30 percent quota for women in governance.
Last week’s cabinet reshuffle brought to 32 the total number of ministers (excluding deputy ministers) since Bio’s election. Of that number only seven have been women, representing 21 percent.
In parliament, only 15 (11%) of the 132 electable seats are occupied by women lawmakers.
These figures highlight the state of inequality in the country’s body politic, in spite of the fact that women constitute over 51% of the total population, according to the 2015 Population and Housing Census.
Dr Fatou Taqi, President of 50/50, told Politico on Saturday that she personally had serious concerns regarding the process of deciding who to appoint as minister, despite noting that it was the sole prerogative of the President to do so.
“What we understand is that there are certain considerations on how the selections can be as inclusive as possible. That’s where the disappointment lies” she said.
Dr Taqi went on: “Lots of commitments have been made, the recommendations of the TRC and even their election manifesto; and if they are making considerations like these, we are disappointed”.
Sounding disappointed, she said the appointments were not inclusive and due considerations were not made.
50/50 is not the only group that has expressed concern over last week’s cabinet reshuffle. The Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) earlier expressed concern over the cost of the increase in ministerial positions on the economy, especially coming at a time when the government was struggling to stabilize the situation.
CGG also sought to remind the government of its expressed commitment to controlling expenditure.
© 2019 Politico Online
