Afenyo-Markin expressed concern over her omission, especially given her political stature and the legacy of her father.
Dr. Agyeman-Rawlings is the daughter of the late former President Jerry John Rawlings, the founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the party Mahama leads.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament after President Mahama delivered the State of the Nation Address on February 27, 2025, Afenyo-Markin also criticized the lack of female representation in the cabinet.
He noted that only two women were included in the appointments, questioning the rationale behind the selections.
“Mr. Speaker, His Excellency the President has announced to us a cabinet of 19 with only two women. The daughter of the founder of this NDC, Zanetor Rawlings, is missing; Hajia Lardy is missing, Helen Ntorso is missing, where are the women in this government?” he questioned.
He continued, “…The vice president is part of the government, and we have only two women in the cabinet. In percentage terms, that is just 10% representation.
“Mr. Speaker, the president, as part of his lamentations, tells the nation that they have been able to do two things, pay domestic bonds that matured and engage in financial engineering to settle some energy sector debts to keep the lights on.
“My question is, Mr. Speaker, does the president have any budget of his own? He inherited this budget, and the revenues he is using for these payments were also inherited from the previous government. Yet, the same government is being condemned.”
The president, on Thursday, February 20, 2025, named 19 men and women as members of his Cabinet – the highest decision-making body of the government – in accordance with the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
Section 1 of Article 76 of the Constitution states that “There shall be a Cabinet which shall consist of the President, the Vice-President and not less than ten and not more than nineteen Ministers of State.”
The 19 persons, made up of two women and 17 men, according to Section 2 of Article 76, are to “assist the President in the determination of the general policy of the Government.”
