By Love Wilhelmina Abanonave
Deputy Minority Leader in Parliament, Patricia Appiah-Adjei has refuted claims that the Minority side in Parliament is against the distribution of sanitary pads in schools.
According to her, a comment was passed which came to her hearing that the minority was not in favor of the distribution, however she revealed that was a false statement claiming both sides advocated for it.
“I want to state it here and now that, we all advocated for the distribution of sanitary pads, my only concern here is the fact that when school was reopening for the new semester, in addition to the prospectus that was given to the free senior high schools, there was the need for parents to buy sanitary pads for their children”, she said.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, November 26, 2025, Madam Appiah-Adjei stated that the minority was there to support a worthy cause and believes that it is important that that the program is implemented well for the good of the country.
She added that both sides are representatives of the people of Ghana, and so the implementation of the program must be done and done well.
The deputy minority leader also raised a concern on the fact that women constitute about 52% of the population,
yet the 2026 budget failed to reflect gender sensitive analysis.
She mentioned that though a lot of the initiatives mentioned in the budget were good on paper, they were not evidence based.
“I do not see anywhere in the 2026 budget a clear articulation of how the programs would directly impact the lives of the women that have been advocating for it in this parliament house. If we are to approve this program, then we insist on specific duty the budget must provide the actual numbers”, she said.
According to her, if the country really wants economic growth, then women cannot be left out of it.
There should be a conscious and a deliberate effort to ensure that whatever programs are churned out, women would be the major beneficiaries.
“Mr. Speaker, I cannot simply allow programs to be listed without evidence, the clarity of numbers and gender disaggregation, data must guide how we project growth and how we evaluate its effect on women”.
