The Upper East Deputy Regional Minister, Agnes Asangalisa Chigabatia, has told DAILY GUIDE she wants to be the next Vice President of Ghana and would wrestle for the position, rather than wait for it to be handed to her on a silver platter. Mrs. Chigabatia is joining a long list of women who have also shown interest in the Number Two position. DAILY GUIDE has learnt that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo is being lobbied to select a woman, among a number of other competent people. Some of the names making rounds are Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie, a Member of the Council of State and former president of Ghana Journalists Association (GJA); Ms Joyce Aryee, Chief Executive of Ghana Chamber of Mines; Hajia Alima Mahama, Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs; Oboshie Sai Cofie, Minister of Information and National Orientation and Hajia Mariama Abagna, mother in-law of the football maestro, Abedi Pele, who is said to be a strong supporter of Nana Akufo-Addo. Even though the NPP National Chairman, Peter Mac Manu has ruled out the selection of running mate from the party’s time table for now, lobbyists have intensified their campaign to get their choice selected. They are said to have made contacts with powerful people in the party to push the case of their candidate to the flagbearer. A number of men have also shown interest, sponsoring lobbyists to push their agenda. But Mrs. Chigabatia, who is also the Member of Parliament for Builsa North, said it was time a female became the vice president of Ghana, and occupied the topmost decision making body of the country. She said she was ever prepared to take up the challenge and called on other female politicians to come out and be counted among the ‘vice-presidential contenders’ for the 2008 election. “It is not about merely saying that I want to be a vice president. It is about working to become one. I am seriously working at it and surely, I would be. For too long a time in this country, women have been left behind and the issues bothering women have not been treated properly. If my party nominates a woman as our flagbearer, I think it would go a long way in helping the women of this country solve our problems,” the 52-year-old Parliamentarian told DAILY GUIDE yesterday. She however refused to explain the strategy she was relying on to get her the slot. “That is my secret and it would not be in my best interest to make it public now. All you need to know is that, as I am working for my party to win the next elections, I am also working to be the running mate”. The Deputy Minister said she was not the only person who had the belief that it was time for a woman to become the vice president of Ghana. She added that a lot of other women and women based organisations have spoken to her on the issue, and she was convinced the next vice president of Ghana would be a female. Mrs. Chigabatia refuted the assertion that perhaps there were not enough women capable of occupying the position of vice president. “There are a lot of outstanding women in Ghana who are capable of occupying the vice president position of this country. Gladys Asmah is one of them; Hajia Alima Mahama is one; Christine Churcher, Oboshie Sai Cofie, Gifty Afenyi-Dadzie and the last but not the least, my good self, Agnes Chigabatia. Some are not even in politics but are equally bold, brave, courageous and able. “There are other women groups who have spoken to me on these issues and there are a lot more who think this way. I do not see anything wrong if a man is the president and a woman becomes the vice president or vice versa. We can work together for the betterment of this country,” she said. She also disagreed that it would be in her best interest to make her ambition known to the flagbearer and leadership of her party. “Interestingly, that is the problem I have been talking about. No one would say ‘take it’. I have to go out for it because you may not know the valuable things that are given to you on a silver platter. Rather, you should sweat for it. I am calling on women who are interested in the position that now is the hour. They should not wait for Nana to call them. They should work hard at it. And when you work, the good Lord would bless your work.” Asked if she was ready to contain the backlash from society, Mrs. Chigabatia said she had the full support of her husband and was going all out for the position and would stop at nothing. “My husband has given me 100 percent blessings. The first day I told my husband I wanted to go into politics, he gave me his blessings and I am going all out to the very apex of politics. When a bird is opened from a cage, it flies out. So I would fly as high as possible because I have the support of my husband”. Agnes is married to Smart Chigabatia, a trade unionist. “When you are in politics, you do not listen to criticism because you are already a dead lion and should not fear any knife. You only focus on your aim and agenda and let people call you all sorts of names they want to call you. “Some of us have gone through hell yet we do not care and were not pulled apart. The only thing is that I do not listen to people talking about me. Let the Press say whatever they want to say about me. I cannot stop them. At times they say good things about me so when they say negative things about me, I do not care much,” she charged. The MP said she was aware people still think that a woman’s place should be in the kitchen and she would brave all odds to prove that women can no longer be confined to the kitchen. “You do not sit and cross your legs and say because that is the way people think, you would not talk about it to effect a change. “If the charismatic and pentecostal churches did not talk aloud, their churches would not have grown. Let us women start to talk about these issues everywhere. You should advocate and fight for change. You do not sit down and say it should be given to a woman. Who should give it to you? If you really want it then lets forget what people are saying and let’s go all out for it,” she added. She said women are better placed to address issues of women. “When a woman wants to address the issues of a fellow woman, she knows how to do it better. A lot of issues are still bothering women but some of them are not in the public domain. When we talk, we limit ourselves to the city but go to the typical rural village where I come from and you would find women who still believe that their duty is to be made housekeepers. “Women there are being assaulted every day and they cannot speak out. There are widows whose rights are being trampled upon; there are women who are really suffering silently in this country. Yet if we make them happy and channel their energy into political support, they can do the impossible,” she stated. Speaking briefly about her family and private life, Agnes Chigabatia said she has four children- two boys and two girls. “I have balanced the equation squarely. The first one has just completed University in Moscow and he studied International Relations. The second one came 10 years later because I took a break and went back to school. She is studying Medicine now. Then I have a boy currently in form two at the Senior High School and I have another one who is just 13 and in the Junior High School. My pension baby is yet to come because I have not retired yet,” she said jokingly. “My leisure time is only on weekends and I spend it cooking. I like cooking because I am a professional caterer. When it is hot in the afternoon, I listen to gospel music and in the evenings when I am relaxed, I listen to reggae music…yes I dance reggae very much and I love it. I am a very good dancer and when I was a young girl, I even won an award for dancing. I am a Catholic and worship at St Kizito Parish at Nima. Source: Daily Guide