Lawyer Mary Ohenewaa Afful
Human Rights Advocate and lawyer, Mary Ohenewaa Afful, has paid a glorious tribute to President Akufo-Addo for his impeccable appreciation of human rights issues in the country and beyond.
According to her, the first gentleman of the land is incomparable in the issues of Human Rights on the African continent and beyond.
Speaking to Accra-based AB TV, the lawyer pointed out that Nana Akufo-Addo even before he became President had involved himself in numerous interventions for women, children and the less privileged in society.
Ms. Ohenewaa Afful, who is currently raising awareness for her advocacy initiative for women and children’s rights, said the President is one of her sources of inspiration.
In 2011, she published a book titled ‘The Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms’ which she dedicated to the President because she said throughout her research for her work she found the name of the President in most of the literature she used.
Nana Akufo-Addo has been a champion of human rights issues both as a lawyer and a politician. He is ranked among the few Ghanaians who are up the ladder in terms of issues concerning the less endowed in society.
His passion for equal rights for all Ghanaians has compelled him to criticise the scrapping of some pro-poor policies in the country which will go a long way to make life easy for the underprivileged.
He was the founder and first Chairperson of the Ghana Committee on Human and People’s Rights, which was set up during the PNDC Military Dictatorship to protect the civil liberties of Ghanaians.
Beyond the borders of Ghana, President Akufo-Addo was among the first on the continent to condemn the alleged auction of African migrants as slaves in Libya, describing it as gross and scandalous abuse of human rights.
He said the trading of African migrants was a mockery of the alleged solidarity of African nations grouped in the African Union (AU), of which Libya is a member.
“The current slave auctions of Africans in Libya are not only gross and scandalous abuse of human rights but also a mockery of the alleged solidarity of African nations grouped in the AU, of which Libya is a member,” the President said in a tweet in reaction to reports by the Cable News Network (CNN) of the trading of African migrants in Libya.
These are some of the few reasons why the human rights advocate believes the President stands tall among his peers with regard to issues concerning human rights on the continent.
Ms. Ohenewaa Afful is currently embarking on a campaign dubbed Mary Ohenewaa Nationwide Advocacy Programme (MONA).
The campaign involves the distribution of free books on Domestic and Sexual Violence and Current Legal Position on Marriage and Divorce in schools.
Benevolent Ghanaians and institutions can support the advocacy by financing the printing of more books by contacting +233 (0) 548727983 or through mafful94@yahoo.com
BY Gibril Abdu Razak