The Member of Parliament elect for the Ketu South Constituency, Madam Abla Dzifa Gomashie has indicated that her victory at the polls would open the gate for more women in the southern part of Volta to venture into politics and other life-changing spheres of work.
The former Deputy Minister of Tourism under the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama became the first woman to have contested and won a parliamentary election on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress in any of the constituencies in Southern Volta that includes Ketu South, Ketu North, Keta, Anlo, South Tongu Akatsi North and Akatsi South.
The new MP beat Mr. David Tiahno Quarshie of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Rev Dometor Henyo of Ghana Union Movement (GUM), and Mr Holy Kingsford Amegah of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), with a decisive 84,664 votes out of the 102,179 total votes cast.
Speaking at her official declaration on Tuesday, the veteran actress noted that her mission is “to make a crack in the ceiling”.
She said, “I’m the first woman to contest the elections for the NDC in the Southern part of the Volta region and particularly for Ketu South. I think that about seven constituencies namely Ketu South, Ketu North, Keta, Anlo, South Tongu Akatsi North and Akatsi South, all of these have never had a woman contest the elections and win.
“For me, I set off to contest this election to make a crack in the ceiling and to give hope to the young women that they too can. I think that our community is very patriarchal and so women are rarely in the forefront, I set out to make a statement that yes we can; indeed yes we have.”
Commenting further on the voter turnout in the Ketu South constituency, Madam Abla Dzifa Gomashie noted that but for some rigging agenda set out by the EC and the intimidation of residents in the border communities, turnout would have been more than what the records have captured.
She berated the Electoral Commission for being bias and opaque in its dealing with some of the political parties in all matters relating to the election while taking decisions that favour the ruling New Patriotic Party.
Going forward, she said as Mama Dzramedo I, she would bring her mother factor to bear to ensure development in all forms of Ketu South.
“We don’t want to crawl any longer but grow and I want the goodwill of the people to make this possible.”