Focus on Africa
What the gender equity bill means for women in Ghana
We hear reaction from Ghana where President Nana Akufo Addo signed the gender equality bill. Women's rights advocates are calling for the immediate implementation of the nearly 30-year-old bill.
Also, what is the legacy of Ali Bongo, the disposed president of Gabon? The former head of state has in a letter, announced he has quit politics.
And how the demand for frankincense is promoting poor harvesting methods in countries like Ethiopia and Somalia.
Presenter: Charles Gitonga Producers: Rob Wilson, Stefania Okereke, Nyasha Michelle and Frenny Jowi Technical Producer: Ricardo McCarthy Senior Producer: Karnie Sharp Editors: Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi
- Broadcast on:
- 23 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
Hello and welcome to this podcast from the BBC World Service. Please let us know what you think and tell other people about us on social media. Podcasts from the BBC World Service are supported by advertising. Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. At mid-mobile, we like to do the opposite of what Big Wireless does. They charge you a lot, we charge you a little. So naturally, when they announced they'd be raising their prices due to inflation, we decided to deflate our prices due to not hating you. That's right, we're cutting the price of Mint Unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch. $45 up front for three months plus taxes and fees, promoting for new customers for limited time, unlimited more than 40 gigabytes per month. Slows, full turns at mintmobile.com. Explaining football to the friend who's just there for the nachos, hard. Tailgating from home like a pro with snacks and drinks everyone will love, any easy win. And with Instacart helping deliver the snack time MVPs to your door, you're ready for the game in as fast as 30 minutes. So you never miss a play or lose your seat on the couch or have to go head to head for the last chicken wing. Shop game day faves on Instacart and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three gross re-orders. Offer valid for limited time, other fees in terms apply. Hello, I'm Charles Guitonga and here is what's coming up for you on this edition of Focus on Africa. Ali Bongo, the deposed president of Gabon, has retired from politics, possibly marking the end of his family's grid body power after 55 years. How will he be remembered? In terms of the Japanese, we remember Ali Bongo's family. I don't think there is so much posity because what everybody is going to be thinking about is that it is the family that I don't think can be for almost half century and then they will look everywhere. What does it look like? How do they dispense in patronage? How did that affect the quality of life of Gabonist people? And how our rise in global demand for frankincense is promoting harmful harvesting practices in Ethiopia and Somalia. It's Monday, the 23rd of September. First, we go to Ghana. The country now has a new law that will ensure women's representation in governance. It's called the Affirmative Action Act. Its passing is particularly important to Ghanaian women because they've been calling for this law for almost 30 years. Many campaigners blamed the country's male-dominated parliament for the long delay. Here's how women in Ghana feel about this. I am so excited about the passage of the Affirmative Action law and the fact that the government has us censored it. It's a new beginning for women in Ghana. It's a new beginning to bridging the agenda in equality gaps that we have identified. It's a new beginning for women to have their voices ahead, for women's role in the development of the country to be taken as a priority. We are very excited. It's an opportunity to thank the president and parliament of Ghana and all who supported in the passage of the bill into law for making Ghanaian women recognize these fits. This is fantastic news. This is a monumental step towards promoting gender equity and addressing the systemic inequalities that have held women and marginalized groups back for far too long. And I look forward to more representation of women in leadership. Obviously as a woman feminist gender advocate, however they call us, I'm elated by the passage of the Affirmative Action bill. So now that has been passed into law, I'm more than happy. My hope is that it won't make a difference. Knowing Ghana, there are so many laws, but the implementation becomes a problem. I know that the Ghana Bar Association has chosen a female leader now and deputy as well. So I'm excited. I'm looking forward to more women in leadership positions, to more women voices being heard. I'm looking forward to seeing more women win in the upcoming elections. So together we can push the agenda agenda. Ghana now joins Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Mozambique and others in Africa that have working affirmative action laws. These countries have a 30 percent quarter for women in decision-making bodies, in parliament and other state agencies. Women's rights advocates in the country are now very keen to see the immediate implementation of this law. I've been speaking to former gender minister in Ghana, Nana Oye Bampo-Ado, who is now the chair of the Gender, Children and Social Protection Committee. What's her reaction to the bill finally passing? I'm excited and really happy that finally after three decades, the affirmative action that has been passed. Because without this piece of legislation, it will be very difficult for women in Ghana to participate equally in governance, participate equally in any political party or any political activity. This is because we as a country run the first past the post-political system and it is about numbers and it is about who emerges first. And because we live in a patriarchal society with certain gender norms, for instance, we have a proverb that says that when a woman buys a gun, it lies on the chest of a man, that women sell guarding eggs. And there are so many proverbs that depict the superiority of the man. And there's even a proverb that it is the cock that cross to announce the approach of dawn. So definitely not the hand. And that speaks to the public discourse and the voice of women within public discourse. And so looking at our traditional cultural context and then just opposing it with our political system or the first past the post-system. And then also looking at the educational status of women in Ghana, where we have more men being educated than women. It was difficult to get women to participate in politics at all levels. For instance, in our parliament, as we speak now, we have about 14% representation of women. That's 40 out of over 270. At the base, at the local government, we have less than 5% representation. So there was a need to create a legal intervention that would jump start and ensure that we would get women at all these levels of governance for all the reasons. So if even you read the objective of our act, one key objective is for us to address the gender imbalance. And it is also interesting that Ghana was actually the first country in Africa to adopt affirmative action for female participation in politics and governance. In what ways then does this new law guarantee the things that you're saying have been lacking? Okay. The new law guarantees a minimum representation of women across board. So when you look at the schedule, schedule A of the new law, it says that within two years from 2024 to 2026, we need to have a minimum of 30% representation of women in the security services, in public service, in the civil service, within the judiciary. So certain sectors have been mentioned. It goes up to 50% by year 2030. The law actually articulates a process for measuring progressive compliance with these targets. And that is the uniqueness of Ghana's affirmative action act. Because it's even outlines audits. Every four years, there has to be audit. And it creates the gender equality committee that will now see to implementation of the affirmative action act. Are we looking at a situation like what happened in Kenya where specific posts will need to be created specifically for women to contest for? For me, that is one critique of our affirmative action act that it was not strong on political parties and representation of women. Because it just said, they shall ensure progressive achievement of the gender equality targets. And also, they have to adopt effective measures. Another critique is also with parliament, because it would have been good for some seats to have been reserved like the Kenyan example that you are referring to. But that was not done. It should have been more definitely, especially with the members of parliament, because that is where we have a problem. It's been under 10% for over two decades. Now we've shifted to 14%. So you will be that decision-making table. Help us understand how, you know, in your opinion, increased representation of women at those kind of levels will impact policies. Economic empowerment face, that is very, very critical. And when women are at that table, they are able to address the issues better, because we better understand our circumstances. So for instance, I belong to the NDC party and we're looking at a women's bank. We have analyzed and realized that a women's bank will help to address some of the economic empowerment issues for women. There are a lot of, like I said, gender norms and cultural and traditional inhibitions that pose as obstacles for women. Gender-based violence is a huge issue. And it is women who go through this in the majority. And when you have women at the helm, we are better at designing programs and adopting or thinking through interventions that will ensure that women are better said, that women also receive the relevant education, that women get the loans with low interest rates that they need, that women get access to maternal health care, that women get cheaper, that access to cheaper fertility services. You look at the data and statistics in Ghana, you'd realize that according to the population census, we have more women who are poorer than men. So these poor women who are into farming, food crop farming, how do we help them through agriculture? How do they get assistance? So they are able to put three square meals at the table. It is women who can help women to get economic empowerment for us to prevent gender-based violence, for us to ensure that when they get pregnant and they are going to give birth, they don't die because there was no blood. And then also for us to ensure that they are able to go to school, that this issue of no sanitary part, so they can't go to school, is a thing of yesterday, is women who can help take those critical decisions? And if we are part of the demographic of Ghana, why shouldn't we be at that table? Do you think having a law like this in place and having it implemented in the right way, are we going to start seeing a change in perception how women are perceived in the society? Affirmative action acts will help, but we need to do much, much more because we need to change the social dynamics. We need to change the thinking of the perception of women, their role and what they should do. We need to address the issues of the sexual harassment and the derogatory statements. Women do not want to participate in politics because once you rear your head up and you want to be in politics, then your sex life is out there, your social life is out there, your religious life is out there, your marriage sometimes is out there. And so we really need to do a re-engineering. And more importantly, we need to sustain it. We need to sustain the awareness creation. We need to engage with the boys and the men and get them to appreciate and understand that women are also partners. We are not pushing them off the table, but we are also sitting at the table together with them to help create a better world, a better country for ourselves. And then also the intergenerational passing of the baton. So the 50s and the 60s engage in with younger women, helping them appreciate that the wheel should not be reinvented, but lessons should be lent. These were our experiences and then some of these will be your experiences and you can better manage them and let's together just push the cart and push and push and push. And we will get to our destination when we do that. Absolutely. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Former Gender Minister in Ghana, Nana Oye Bampo-Ado. It's been over a year since Ali Bongo was ousted as the president of Gabon. It brought to an end 55 years of rule by his family and now he said he's quitting politics for good in an open letter published last week. He's a little flavor of what he wrote. I wish to reaffirm my withdrawal from political life and the definitive renunciation of any national ambition. I understand that despite the achievements made under my mandates, too many Gaboniz people are still suffering and this remains my greatest regret. I call on my country, its leaders and my fellow citizens to renounce vengeance and to write its next history with harmony and humanity. The Bongo family's role in Gabon started in 1967 when Ali's father Omar took power. He died in 2009. Ali was then elected president in a contested election and stayed in power until Aku last year. The country is now being led by a transitional president, General Bryce Oligui Guema, the military leader of the coup. It's been a turbulent time for the Bongo family since then. His wife Sylvia and son Nuredin have both been charged with corruption and are detained awaiting trial. In his open letter, Ali Bongo called them helpless scapegoats. So what might the legacy of the Bongo's be in Gabon? I've been speaking to Oluwale Ojewale, an analyst at the Institute for Security Studies in Dakar. Hi Ojewale, how are you? I'm playing Oluwale. Good, good. It's good to hear from you this morning. How's Dakar? Dakar is cool. In the weather or in the swag? Everything. Okay, we'll go right into it Ojewale. Thank you for your time. Overall, how would you characterize Ali Bongo's time as a president of Gabon? I think it's a call with a misfilling, particularly connecting that to our people and the grand thing about what is over a decade administration look like for them. And the way you join that with the 40 years that is further over the country, it shows a dynasty that has gotten a grip of a country for almost half a century. And that means that inclusion wouldn't be a foremost consideration for who gets what in politics and governance, because it's a family affair. And I think it also shows that to a large extent, based on what has been revealed since he was ousted, that the patrimony of the state has probably been carried in a family. And then that will have definitely lead to the impoverishment of the people. And then the fact that the political place was actually called strain. And then what that means is that civil liberty of the people who have also been affected over time, at least for about five decades of the century that the family has ruled. And that culminated in the jubilation that we saw when it was asked about the military, about the people jubulating on the street. So when you look at that whole experience that translated from the father to the son and how they have led the country to the jubilah for about half a century, there is definitely no way that people are going to be happy with that even though they couldn't complain or maybe do anything about it, because elation was always foisted on their mind and the outcome pretty determined before the beginning. You mentioned that some things have been revealed since he was ousted from power. What are some of those things that have come out since then? And then the number one thing is our power was exercised by proxy, particularly by people who do not have the detonate rights to exercise such power. And I'm talking about the familiarity about his son, Nadine. How he was able to influence so many things in the government of his father and possibly how he was probably scheming to become the replacement of the father in the communities. And the role that the wife was with play in the government, which the corruption and litigation is bringing to the fore. It appears that the military in time the country has not most of the required courage to confront Ali Bongo directly, maybe publicly, as we can say. But they are doing that by proxy, by picking up the son, by arresting and detaining the wife and all these other people that are connected to that. And what would you say then has been the impact of his housing in Gabon, because it's been over a year. And in this letter, he says now that he's retiring from politics. Tight to the question that you had. It's also very important to note that the only move for the military administration is short-lived. I think the people are possibly seeing the reality now, and they will be interested in the military going back to the barrack. And in terms of the quality of life and currency, for certainty, whether they must improve market lead since the last one year or so that Ali Bongo has been removed, I think it is the political jubilation of a sense that the people feel they have probably been finally set free from a long-term bondage that lasted for almost half a century. But like I said, in the example of Africa, I think in Gabon, it is not yet guru, because the big question is the imagination and the maneuvering that is going on in the country is bright, so legal, general, and grammar attempting to put himself on the ballot. That is also going to create some political friction that can affect every area of life of Gabon is. So this is what he has not come out how rightly to declare, but I think there are speculations that is probably going to put himself on the ballot. How would that influence political participation? And then how the election is going to be conducted? What is the role of international community in this? These are a low lot of package that I think elections data for next year, as it begins to unfold, is going to reveal a lot of things from the current state of Gaboniz Zonda, the military rule, as far as political participation, as economic and social development is concerned, and now that it's going to frame the future of the country. So tell me this, is why Sylvia and Sun Nuredin are still being held by their Hunt authorities in Gabon, charges of embezzlement? Do you think then the military leadership is likely to allow the deposed president, Ali Bongo, just retire quietly following his commitment to quit politics? Or they are going to sort of think of some charges or anything else that they could do around him? What I think is very, very important is that I am not sure, and I don't think the military government and whatever comes after that is probably going to go after Ali, won't go forcefully. I think what is going on is maybe a form of South London and plea back in it, in which some of the resources that this family has cornered for about epicentiary, there's probably going to be some shadow of clandestine investigation into that, which I believe they have done and they know where those things are kept. And then seeing how they can retrieve those things from him, I use that as a negotiation for him to probably avoid prosecution. I think that is what is going on. And as for the family, particularly for the wife, I think what is meant out to Ali Bongo, she can also enjoy to the extent to which it probably cooperate with the state authorities to find a political solution to these corruption allegations in terms of returning those resources. This son is a 50/50. He can actually be jailed, he can be tried, he can be prosecuted. And then he can also enjoy the immunity that is probably going to be granted to his father. The state has said the father is free to walk around even though the father said he's still under surveillance here and there. So, not that it's clear yet, but in terms of direct prosecution of Ali Bongo, I think that is going to take place. Finally then, how do you think the Bongo family will be remembered in Gabon? Because from what you are saying, on paper, they may be out, but in terms of the system and how the country is wired, there might still be a round for some time to come. Can we talk about remembering them now? Or do we need to give a bit of time for that legacy to still continue showing its might in the politics of the country? I think it's going to be hard because the current military ed of states also emerge from the shadow family. So, it might be creating a new, parallel political, dynasty, crop of loyalists. You know, loyalty is fluid in government and the government that has been operated by a family for almost 50 years will have had their people planted all over the places, where there is a ministry, where there is an oil and gas, where there is a banking or security sector of the country. So, I think Ali Bongo's hand, the family's hand, is going to be here and there in the policies of Gabon and then the possibility in terms of what comes after when the election holds and the time limit that is agreed upon is going to determine whether Gabon is embarking on a new journey of autocracy or they've broken away from that past. The jury is not yet out on the election hold and we watch for two or three years, we can't know the direction and where the country is going. But in terms of what the governance will remember Ali Bongo's family. I don't think there is so much positivity because politics is going to help lift everything. What everybody is going to be thinking about is that it is the family that would account for almost half a century and then they will look everywhere. What does it look like? How do they dispense in patronage? How did that affect the quality of life of Gaboniz people? Those are going to be critical questions that people are going to be asking and I'm not sure whether they are going to be answering those questions themselves in positive manner. Oluwale Ojewale from the Institute for Security Studies in Dakar. This is focused on Africa from the BBC World Service. Explaining football to the friend who's just there for the nachos, hard. Tailgating from home like a pro with snacks and drinks everyone will love, any easy win. And with Instacart helping deliver the snack time MVPs to your door, you're ready for the game in as fast as 30 minutes. So you never miss a play or lose your seat on the couch or have to go head to head for the last chicken wing. Shop Game Day faves on Instacart and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three gross reorders. Offer valid for limited time, other fees in terms apply. Ryan Reynolds here for I guess my 100th mint commercial. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Honestly, when I started this, I thought I'd only have to do like four of these. I mean it's unlimited premium wireless for $15 and what power there's still people paying two or three times that much. I'm sorry I shouldn't be victim blaming here. Give it a try at midmobile.com/switch or whatever you're ready. $45 up from payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes of seat details. An hour to something with a wordy and arthy smell, Frankincense. It's a nation rising common in the horn of Africa and across the Red Sea in the Arabian Peninsula. Up until 20 years ago, Frankincense was mostly used in religious ceremonies. In fact, it's quite popular in the Catholic Church. In recent times, however, the commodity has caught the attention of the global wellness industry. Apparently, its well-balanced aroma can help calm the mind and soul. This rising demand has seen harmful harvesting practices that could see the population of the trees that produce it diminish in Ethiopia and Somalia, the top exporting countries in Africa. I've been speaking to someone who knows quite a lot about this. Anjanet de Carlo, founder of the Save Frankincense organization. Frankincense is such an amazing tree. It's extremely resilient. It grows in harsh climates with very little water. It can grow on rock and it survives in these hot environments where it's producing hundreds of phytochemicals that are delivered in the resins. I consider the trees to be the ultimate alchemists in their abilities to make these wonderfully smelling resins living in these very harsh conditions. How then is it processed harvested? There's many different species of Frankincense that grow across Africa and the Middle East, as well as there's a species even that grows in India, and the highly prized resins that come from Ethiopia and Somalia, they are harvested and gathered by communities that live with the trees, that live near and with the trees. They collect them over many months by visiting the trees every week or two weeks to keep scraping off the resins after a wound is made for the resin to exude from. And then it's brought to warehouses or caves in some cases where it's stored in the cool air away from sunlight and sorted. And there's traditionally men collect the resins and women sort the resins. And after that, the resins are exported all around the world. So why men? Why men so involved in this? Traditionally, men had to leave home and spend months in the mountains collecting the resins. At that time, that was considered something more that men would do. It is laborious, tough work. In Somalia, you're climbing rugged mountains. The harvesters are exposed to snakes, to sharp rock. They're really doing a job that's very tough. And traditionally, women kind of being more in the domestic realm closer to home, sorting the resins locations near their homes. You talked about Somalia and Ethiopia and you say that the product from those two countries is quite highly prized. Why? Yes. The history of frankincense from Ethiopia as a long, long history. And it's closely tied also with spiritual traditions that are very strong in Ethiopia still to this day. And also, you know, I should mention that frankincense and Mer were both brought to the baby Jesus by the wise men. And one of those wise men is considered to be from Ethiopia. So it makes sense that he was bringing Ethiopian frankincense. The dispersal of the trees, the harvesting of it by men, the precious nature of these resins, of being sorted by women into, you know, different grades and different qualities than being shared with cultural traditions across the world is something that connects us as human beings. A love for frankincense is felt all around the world. There's an outpouring of concern for the trees, which we don't often see. Usually, there's more concern for wildlife or animals. So trees get left behind a little bit. And in the case of frankincense, because there is such a long human history and such a relationship of using the resins, burning them in places of worship and around the world, as well as now using them medicinally and also in products like essential oils and perfumes being very popular. Right. So it has a lot more uses now than before. Is that why the demand is so high globally? I would say it's the scale. So the ancient Egyptians were obsessed with frankincense and they brought in frankincense in caravans on a continual basis and burned it in the temples. A queen hatchetsut burned frankincense 24 hours a day in her temple. So the popularity and the use has always been there. But now it's the scale, right? As human population has grown, there's more demand for the product. But this is a wild tree growing in forests. It's not something that's cultivated and farmed. And that's a big distinction in terms of the popularity. We have more people on the planet now and more end uses for frankincense. So not just for burning or ceremonially in places of worship and use medicinally for hundreds, if not thousands of years, it definitely has a history of being used medicinally. And now being used in modern products distilled into essential oils, being used in perfume and also being extracted for medicines. So frankincense is used heavily in China, in traditional Chinese medicine, for a component within the resin called bazwelic acid, which is anti-inflammatory and has scientific evidence to support that. So you say that it's not really a tree that's grown commercially. It's a tree just growing naturally in the forests. Is there such an ability to issue here that you're seeing, specifically seeing that the demand has grown, but the supply is still quite reliant on what nature can do? So my colleagues who work extensively in Ethiopia over many decades studying the population dynamics of the trees are seeing a decline leading to over the next 50 years, a steady decline of the frankincense that comes from Ethiopia. There's many complex factors as to why that's happening, certainly over tapping or improper tapping that can lead to the tree's death is one of them. We also see sustainability issues in places like Somalia, where folks are caught in a poverty trap situation, don't have too many resources to rely on and then over rely on tapping their frankincense trees and that coupled with unscrupulous buyers who will encourage communities to over tap to get out as much resin as they need. So the thing is with some of these products that tend to have quite a huge globe of value, the people that are quite closely connected to them, it could be farmers if it's a case of something that needs to be formed, or in this case the men that you described that have to go into these very dangerous situations to tap the resin, how do they benefit from all these? Unfortunately the people who are harvesting and sorting these resins are not the people seeing the economic benefits from the trade. The extraction of the resins is bought at a low price and the value addition happens further away in places like Europe and China, the United States and those products being sold at a premium. Unfortunately these communities barely see any investments back from the companies that they engage with. They're living in abject poverty. Recently a women's cooperative that sorts frankincense resins in Somaliland has been protesting the fact that they were not paid for the resins that they sorted and that suppliers took advantage of them. What can be done to ensure that these trees are not dying off? Are we going to see solutions where it can be formed? So there's a commercial way into which it's supplied to the market or what else can be done to preserve the species of these trees? So one of the first things is to actually empower the communities that harvest because they are the people who steward the trees, they live with the trees, they manage the trees and so they are the primary most important node in the protection of the trees. Communities have to be empowered, they have to be properly compensated and also invested in as well as things like traceable systems where companies can monitor where frankincense is coming from. I've been working on a grant the last couple years with some partners where we've instituted a blockchain traceable system so that we can monitor where the resins come from so that I can monitor the health of those trees remotely from my desk. I can do it and be able to also track payments to the harvesters to make sure that they've been fairly compensated and compensated period as well as needing mechanisms, national regulations and investments by range state countries into the frankincense market is something very important. The United Nations CITES treaty has been reviewing frankincense and at this time no listing of frank mechanism to protect the trees but companies can do a lot more to responsibly source the resins in the meantime to affect positive change. And that's Focus on Africa today. The producers were Rob Wilson, Stefano Kerike, and Nasha Michel in London and Frannie Joey was in iRobi. Connie Sharp was a senior journalist in charge and the technical producer was Ricardo Makati. Our editors are Andrew Lombard and Alice Modangi. I'm Charles Gittonga, goodbye for now. From the BBC, the 2024 US election, full coverage from the campaign trail, no agendas, no one-sided opinions, just the issues covered. We're not here to tell you what to think. We're made to make you think. Visit bbc.com/uselection. [BLANK_AUDIO]