When Ghana’s 8th Parliament is sworn in, at the midnight of January 6, 2020, 39 of its members will be women.
Among the women who emerged winners in the 2020 parliamentary elections, a unique category of the female political class has been created consisting of daughters who have successfully succeeded their fathers in the political arena.
Read about the four female Members of Parliament elect who have succeeded their fathers in politics below:
Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings:
At the back of her father’s death just a little under a month to the December 7, 2020, general elections, Dr. Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings, the daughter of Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings was able to earn her second term in parliament despite the effects of her father’s death on her campaign.
Being the first born of her father, Dr. Zanetor had to put up extra efforts in managing the aftermath of her father's passing with working to retain her seat.
She, however, won convincingly on December 7th by outpacing her closest contender with 8,000 extra votes earning 39,193 total votes.
Political pundits have described the victory of Dr. Zanetor as not surprising considering how she announced her arrival in the nation’s political arena some five years ago.
In 2015, she crossed what was two major hurdles being two giant opponents from her party’s primary to the general election to gain her first term in office.
She defeated the experienced Nii Armah Ashitey, the then incumbent in the NDC primary before beating renowned lawyer, Phillip Addison with 33,609 votes against 29,122 votes.
With her young but promising career, the first daughter of Ghana’s former president has proven to be very capable of stepping into her father’s shoes.
Sheila Bartels Sam:
The Bartels family will have a second-generation representation in the 8th Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana.
Sheila Bartels Sam, contesting in the 2020 parliamentary election polled 64.26% representing 54,821 votes cast to win the representation mandate of the people of Ablekuma North, a mandate her father held for 3 terms.
Using her entrepreneurship background, Sheila Bartels instead of her father’s influence in the New Patriotic Party and the constituency, largely leveraged on her organizational skills to her advantage in winning the seat.
Her journey to parliament saw its formative stages at an early part of her life. Throughout her relatively young life, Sheila Bartels set out to grow her very own influence and brand and has succeeded in doing so with the evidence available in her constituency level participation and engagement.
During the 2016 campaign period, the MP-elect formed the Hope Campaign in her constituency to mobilize the youth in buying into the party’s ideas. The result was a massive endorsement of the NPP in the Ablekuma North Constituency which contributed to the party winning the 2016 presidential election and earning majority seats in parliament.
Ahead of the 2020 polls, the young vibrant politician beat the incumbent MP for the constituency, Nana Akua Owusu Afriyie in their party’s primary with a result of 518-315.
The herculean task of walking in her father’s shoes promises not to be easy but so has the young daughter of Ghana’s former Minister of Interior proven herself to be up to the task.
Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu Agyare:
Little was known about the life of Elizabeth Ofosu Agyare until she was appointed Minister of Tourism Arts and Culture under the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama led administration in 2013.
When the NDC lost the 2016 elections, the legal practitioner went back to law practice but maintained her activeness in party politics at the constituency level.
She filed to contest the Techiman North seat on the ticket of the NDC after going unopposed in the party’s primary.
She defeated the incumbent MP, Martin Oti Agyarko of the New Patriotic Party by polling 23,252 representing 52.54% against the incumbent’s 21,008 representing 47.46% of votes cast in the December 7 elections.
Being the daughter of the late Isaac Kwadjo Adjei-Mensah means that Elizabeth Ofosu Agyare has become one of the four female MPs-elect who have assumed the same career paths as their fathers by venturing into politics.
Her late father, a stalwart of the NDC held various ministerial portfolios during the administration of the late former President Jerry John Rawlings. He also served as a Member of Parliament for Techiman North between 1996 and 2003.
Dakoa Newman
The former Member of Parliament for Okaikoi South, Victor Newman will be a proud father seeing how his daughter has been able to follow his political path.
Dakoa Newman is said to have keenly followed the political exploits of her father who is a founding member of the New Patriotic Party. She worked through the party’s constituency structure and rose to the position of a Women Organiser.
Darkoa Newman earned the blessing of her father in 2019 to contest the parliamentary seat and beat the incumbent, Ahmed Arthur by 440 to 327 votes in the NPP’s parliamentary primary.
With the Okaikoi North seat being one of the NPP’s safe seats, Darkoa Newman on December 7, easily sailed through to earn the title of MP-elect.
She polled 40,393 votes against the NDC’s Abraham Kotei Neequaye who polled 26,019 votes.
Four of the MPs-elect are daughters of renowned politicians