Dzifa Gomashie is the MP for Ketu South in the Volta region
On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2022, GhanaWeb celebrates the first female Member of Parliament for the Ketu South Constituency in the Volta Region, Abla Dzifa Gomashie.
Being the MP for the constituency referred to casually
Read full articleas the ‘World Bank’ of the National Democratic Congress, Ghana’s current largest opposition party, she has proven herself as a person who is not afraid to veer into hitherto unchartered waters, especially for women.
Today, beyond the challenging roles she plays as an MP, and as a queen mother of the Aflao Traditional Area, known as Maama Dzramedo I, she has become a great advocate for the socialization of both boys and girls.
Being an avid crusader for children-related rights, chief among which is autism, she has always advocated for reading habits to be inculcated in children.
She believes that both genders of children should be indoctrinated in such a way that no individual gender feels superior over the other.
“Let us change the way in which we socialise both boys and girls. We cannot continue with the imbalances in opportunities we make available to women and girls and expect a yearly commemoration of the International Women's Day to accelerate the progress we must make.
“Let us work together to pass the Affirmative Action Bill and have tangible landmarks to point to next year. The celebration must count for something,” she said in a comment on the IWD, to GhanaWeb.
In the eight parliament of Ghana, which she is a member of, she has been quite vocal about a number of such subjects,
In 2021, on the occasion of the IWD, she stressed the need for women's issues not to only be discussed occasionally but for women to always stand up to be counted.
She said that it was imperative that efforts are continuously made to celebrate women and their continued efforts in the country's development while ensuring that "women are not kept in abusive relationships, Witches Camps and bondage under religious/traditional conditions."
She continued that she hopes such celebrations will not only focus on a select few.
"When the world celebrated the International Women's Day, we the Women In Parliament, were involved in Parliamentary work. We chose today to celebrate the strides made in the journey of Women In Development, Women And Development, Gender And Development, Women Empowerment etc.
"As I said today in Parliament, I hope these celebrations will not be about the selected few and or privileged few. The celebration should be measured by the narrowing of the gender gap and the scaling up of the achievements.
"It should be about the liberation and equal opportunities for all women. It should be about celebrating the women who dare to crack the ceiling and hold the doors for other women regardless," she said.
For all the wonderful things you continue to do for women and for the youth of this country, we celebrate you, Abla Dzifa Gomashie.
Brief Profile of Dzifa Gomashie
Abla Dzifa Gomashie is a Ghanaian female veteran actress, producer, screen scriptwriter, and politician. She was the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts under the administration of the National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s John Dramani Mahama.
She is the current Member of Parliament on the ticket of the NDC in the Ketu South Constituency and also a queen-mother in the Aflao Traditional Area, under the name Maama.
Dzifa Gomashie was born in Accra to Patrick Dotse Gomashie, and Helen Gomashie (of blessed memory). She had her secondary level education at the St. Louis Senior High School in Kumasi and then furthered at the University of Ghana, where she acquired a diploma in Theatre Arts, a bachelor's degree in Theatre Management, and an MPhil in African Studies from the Institute of African Studies.
Dzifa Gomashie's career as an actress began in 1985 when she joined the Talents Theatre Company. She has featured in plays like Black Star, Mambo, Chaka the Zulu, Jogolo, and The Third Woman.
She has also starred in several movies including Ghost Tears, House of Pain, Heart of Gold, and a number of National Arts NAFTI student productions.
She produced and wrote scripts for By The Fire Side, a GTV program that used story-telling to encourage children to read more and to develop their reading skills.
She used to run a restaurant called Mama’s Kitchen along the Ashaley Botwe Road in Accra.
On August 24, 2019, she contested and won the bid to represent the Ketu South constituency on the ticket of the NDC in the 2020 elections. She won the bid with 586 votes.
At the general polls in 2020, she garnered 84,664 votes, the largest ever number of votes by any candidate in the constituency’s history.
