Madam Kate Gyamfua addresses the NPP national women’s conference in Takoradi
Over the weekend, the national women’s
conference of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), the first of its kind in
the party’s history, took place at the Western regional capital of Takoradi.
The signature red, white and blue colours
painted the oil city. The conference was attended by all 275 constituency and
16 regional women organisers of the party, their deputies, all female party
executives at all levels, women groups, including female Members of Parliament
(MPs), renowned female clergies and apolitical women groups. Others were women
metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs), female political
appointees from the governing party, female volunteer groups, among others.
Volunteer ladies’ groups such as Loyal
Ladies, Staunch Queens and Women’s Wing Maidens drunk from the same cup,
working together to make the conference successful.
The
three-day all-women’s programme, which was apparently taken over by men, was meant
to whip up the political enthusiasm of the women in the party and more
importantly, get them actively involved in the party’s organisation ahead of
the 2020 electioneering period.
According to the national women organiser,
Madam Kate Gyamfua, the conference was to “serve as an avenue for the network
of ideas and campaign strategy in the run-up to the general elections in 2020.”
Both
first and second ladies, Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Hajia Samira Bawumia, respectively,
graced the occasion as the special guests of honour.
Publicity and preparation
Ahead of the conference, the national
women organiser went on a media tour to whip up interest of party members,
supporters and all those who would be interested in attending the conference.
Her social media team, led by the ever hardworking Seth Nana Boampong, flooded
all social media platforms with flyers, short videos and pictures to stimulate
people’s appetite.
As a true leader, who takes the lead,
Madam Gyamfua proved that a good leader did not boss around neither did she sit
for others to do the work without her direct involvement.
Believing in the principle of leadership,
as one who assigns duties, supervises and gets herself involved in getting the
job done, with the strong conviction that result is the ultimate speaker of a
leader’s work, she was seen in Takoradi several days before the programme. She
sometimes worked deep into the night in ensuring the successful execution of
the programme. It is therefore not surprising that the programme recorded one of
the highest numbers any single wing within a political grouping can pull in the
country.
As the national women organiser, Madam Gyamfua
has, on several platforms, expressed the unwavering commitment of her outfit to
galvanizing not only the women in the NPP, but also the women of Ghana in
general, to vigorously campaign for and vote overwhelmingly for the governing
party in the elections of 2020 and beyond. And to her, this is a solemn pledge
that must be fulfilled through all legal means possible.
A lot of hard work, thinking, dedication,
resilience, among others, went into the planning and preparation for the
programme, hence its huge success.
I must say kudos to the 13-member
committee who helped the national women organiser in making the dream a reality.
Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful – chairperson, Mrs
Diana Bawuah, Mrs Naana Pele, Madam Adwoa Dokuaa, Madam Rita Asobayire, Mrs Owusu
Akoto Afriyie, Madam Esther Ofori, Mrs Mawusi Nudekor Awity, Madam Janet Anann,
Hon Cecilia Abena Dapaah, Hon Irene Naa Torshie Addo, Hon Gifty Ohene-Konadu
and Madam Philomena Sam; God bless your hard work.
The Kate Gyamfua factor
When some of us started advocating for
Madam Gyamfua to be elected as the party’s women’s leader, we believed in her
capabilities. We trusted that she will deliver and yes, it appears our
expectation of her was far less than what she could offer. As the adage goes,
the taste of the pudding is in the eating. Her takeover of the women’s wing has
rebranded and gingered the base of the women’s wing, making it the beautiful
new maiden of the village who catches the eyes of all men, young and old.
Ahead of the mega national conference, the
women’s wing organised regional conferences in all of the 16 regions of the
country. The regional conferences served as curtain raisers for the national
conference. The regional women’s conferences followed a workshop conducted in
Kumasi for all 16 women regional organisers and their deputies.
Madam Gyamfua also undertook a regional
tour to all the newly created regions where she interacted with both party
members and non-party members alike. This was aimed at mobilising and
inaugurating women groups in these new regions.
Early this year, she came up with the
national women’s wing “All Women Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving”, where members
of the party met at the Legon Botanical Garden to thank God for the many
successes chalked by the party since forming government and to seek God’s favour
for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the government.
She then started with market visitations
and visited some key market centres in the country to educate the market women
on the achievements of the NPP government.
Following the market centre visitations,
Madam Gyamfua again embarked on a nationwide tour to meet with constituency and
regional women organisers of the party. She used the opportunity to address
some of the challenges facing the women’s wing in the various constituencies
and to ginger them up for the hard work ahead of the party.
She later visited some international women’s
wing branches of the party with some of her regional women organisers. Notable
among the places she visited were the United Kingdom and Germany, where she
sought to educate the party’s diaspora women’s wing on the achievement of the
party.
She then met with all female volunteer groups in the party, to get them to
synergise in helping the party secure resounding victory in 2020.
One cannot be judged with a single test.
Passing the national women’s conference test alone, though a huge achievement;
could not have been used to judge her good works.
But following closely what she has done in
the past, then as Akwatia constituency women organiser, rising to become a
deputy national women organiser and the hard work she is putting up as the current
national women organizer; it is not surprising that the party people call her
‘operations’.
She has a strong understanding of what
recent day political mobilisation is and this seems to be working perfectly in
her favour in the way she conducts herself.
The NPP women’s wing is definitely not the
same as she took it some few months ago. The women’s wing can now be regarded
as the biggest mobilisation force of the party. From all indication, it is
clear the women’s wing will be the face of the party’s 2020 campaign.
Indeed, the Kate Gyamfua factor is changing the face of political parties’ mobilisation in the country.
By Kwasi Frimpong
