Story: Rahamatu-Lahi Zakaria || Sanatu Zambang
The first time I heard Madam Hamidatu Abdul Rahman communicate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on the radio was somewhere in June on radio Justice. She was paired with Mohammed Abdul Razak Wunpini of the New Patriotic Party. She quickly captured me with her eloquent submission.
I am not used to hearing women communicate for their parties in the region unless the person is a government appointee and she is invited to talk about things concerning the sector she is occupying. Madam Hamida is bold, fearless, and a risk-taker.
I have since monitored her radio discussions and how she is able to deal with male chauvinists is breath-taking. For instance, when King Faisal Yajara of the NPP tried to play the female card saying she is a woman so he would not go hard on her. Madam Hamida called him out for his male chauvinism and told him not to patronize her because of her gender. She is someone you cannot bully on Radio.
When you try to pull any surprise, you might be the one to get the surprise of your life. You can ask Alhasan Lord, Tamale North Constituency Secretary for the NPP. While he wanted to bully her, thinking Madam Hamida is ‘just a woman’ he could walk over, the story went the other way. He nearly cried on a live radio discussion on Radio Justice.
But it seems the northern regional NDC executives of the party have not fully acknowledged the kind of gem they have in their party. Just like Sammy Gyamfi, she could be the female version or even surpass what Gyamfi is doing. The wonders she can do by communicating the party’s ideologies to the public and attracting more followers can be a game-changer if empowered and given the rights resources to work.
If empowered, she can nurture and mentor more women to help in propagating the party’s good works. I say this because of her deep understanding of what NDC is and what it stands for. In September this year, we invited her to our studios, Sanatu Zambang to discuss the role of the youth in bringing back the NDC to power. Her submission was mesmerizing and revealed to me that, she is not just in that party because of family or just a follower.
She is at that party because she understands their ideology. To start her submission, she first mentioned the anthem of the party which starts with ‘Rise’.
‘’I think throughout the country or throughout the political society, it is only the NDC that has an anthem, I mentioned the anthem because I want to discuss the content of the anthem. The beginning of the anthem says we should rise and you know, when the issue of rising come, it is a bit linked with the youth, that, we should rise for Ghana, we patriot of the land towards a secure future and when the future is being mentioned, then, it is again linked to the youth’’.
Mrs. Hamidatu Abdul Rahman
Taking us back to the beginning she linked it with the founder, Jerry John Rawlings, who together with fellow young officers rescued the country from unbearable hardship.
‘’The other thing is looking at where NDC came from, How Jerry John Rawlings came out to rule this country. He was a young man he got other young officers including himself to rescue this country from some unbearable hardship. Most Ghanaians at that time agreed that, the hardship in the society was so unbearable.’’
Mrs. Hamidatu Abdul Rahman
In 2009, the NDC administration was one that had a very youthful appointments. According to Madam Hamidatu, the appointments were done strategically to pave way for the youth to lead the country.
She has always been vocal and participated in the internal politics of the party. In the 2009 NDC administration, she showed interest to be District Chief Executive for her home town.
‘’I had just graduated from the university and I had a conversation with someone at the national executive and he said there is nothing wrong with me being the District Chief Executive at 26, so I should go and file for it. That was in 2009. Yes, I came around and I got the support. You know this part of our country; the young people are supposed to be holding the bags of our elders. I came and I was part of them going through the vetting, nobody discouraged me. I was rather encouraged and after the vetting, I emerge as the third person unfortunately, I did not go through. I got the encouragement to push on.’’
Mrs. Hamidatu Abdul Rahman
