Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Cynthia Mamle Morrison, says government is set to pass the Affirmative Action Bill in 2021 should they be retained in power after the December polls.

The Bill seeks to address the social, cultural, economic and political gender imbalance in Ghana based on the historical discrimination against women emanating from persistent patriarchal sociocultural systems and norms.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Mrs Morrison said although the ruling New Patriotic Party promised to pass the Affirmative Action Bill in their first term in their 2016 manifesto, a last-minute request by People With Disabilities seeking equal representation in the bill delayed it from being taken to parliament for approval.

“We took it to cabinet and then my brothers and sisters with disabilities wrote to me specifically to say that they have to be part of it even though it is women, they want their role so we had to add them to it and then it has to go back to cabinet and go to AG for correction and then she brings it back, so it’s in the final stage.”

According to the Gender Minister, the document is currently with the Attorney General going through corrections, after which it will be passed on to cabinet then finally to parliament.

But the Minister says due to the limited time left until the end of the first term, the bill is unlikely to be passed in the NPP's first term in government.

She’s however hopeful for it to be passed in 2021, should her Party retain power in this year’s elections.

“It’s now with the attorney general. We’ll take it to cabinet once the corrections have been made, and then it goes to parliament...but I don’t think it’s going to go before we rise so I’m sure the next cabinet, hopefully by that time we will still be in power so we’ll pass it.”

Meanwhile, former Gender Minister, Naana Oye Bampoe Addo says the NPP cannot be trusted to deliver on their promise.

According to her, the NPP has failed to get the bill into parliament.

She said, unlike the NPP, the National Democratic Congress was able to get the Affirmative Action Bill into parliament, past the first reading before they were finally kicked out of office.

This, she said, proves that the NDC can be trusted to deliver on their promise as opposed to the NPP.