Guinea set to pass gender parity law this May
By Punarimam Fehintola
Across the African continent there has been a lot of glamour for women inclusiveness in government and decision making especially around the ECOWAS subregion.
In this regard the government of Guinea Bissau has decided to put this issue behind it by pushing hard to ensure the gender parity bill that is before its National Assembly is passed into law in this month of May.
This was made known during the country’s report presentation at the ECOWAS Parliament first ordinary session of 2019 in Abuja.
The presenter of the report Honourable Alpha Souleymane Bah a member of the Parliament representing Guinea Conakry also said ‘ despite advocacy / lobbying campaigns women remain under – represented in decision making bodies . For example, during the municipal elections of 4th February 2018, only 7,044 female candidates were on the ballot paper, out of a total of 29,554 candidates in the 342 constituencies, representing 23.83%’.
He further explained that currently, a bill has been submitted to the national Assembly by the forum of female parliamentarians of Guinea to institute gender equality in Guinea. It is expected to be passed into law on 2nd May 2019 with support of the president prof. Alpha Conde’.
The report also states “This low representation of women during the municipal elections is due,among other things ,to be abolition of 30% minimum quota for women from electoral code ,giving political parties and independent entities that present candidates for elections, the leeway to come up with the number of women they wish ,contrary to the provisions of the constitution which promotes gender equality’.
