It was a moment of grief, sadness and tears when the elder sister of the late Ms Eva Lokko, Mrs Marian Hornsby Odoi, stepped out to pick an award on her sister’s behalf for her achievement.
The 2012 running mate of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) and the PPP Parlimentary Candidate for the Korle Klottey Constituency, who died last Thursday, was honoured along other four women as distinguished women achievers on Friday in Accra by Insight Foundation Ghana.
The audience at the ceremony dubbed “Girls’ Inspirer Awards” held at the British Council auditorium, in paying their respects to Ms Lokko, stood for the reading of a citation presented to her.
Mrs Odoi could not hold back her tears as she received the citation on her sister’s behalf.
She could not make a comment as tears ran down the cheeks of guests and audience. Some executive members of the PPP were also at the event in solidarity of Ms Lokko.
In a video documentary shown before the presentation, Ms Lokko talked about her life, works and family, as well as her motivation of going into politics.
The citation described her as a distinguished woman who was the first Satellite Communications Engineer in Ghana who had impacted the youth, including young women through her works.
The event organised by Insight Foundation Ghana, was to inspire adolescent girls to remain in school to attain their academic goals and make a meaningful impact on their families and society at large.
Ms Lokko was the first woman to be chosen as the presidential candidate of the PPP.
She was the first female engineer to be employed at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) in 1972 and she later become the Director-General of the GBC. She was part of the engineering team that installed and maintained Ghana’s first colour television infrastructure in 1985.
She has worked in about 50 countries, and according to the video documentary, she said that inspired her to go into politics to help transform Ghana as other countries have.
She worked with many international organisations around the world in various capacities and served as a regional programme coordinator of the United Nations Development Programme initiative for Internet development in Africa.
The other women who were awarded were Professor Henrietta Joy Mensa-Bonsu, a lecturer and lawyer; Mrs Jane Amavi Kwawu, an independent International Gender Consultant, and Mrs Dorcas Coker-Appiah, the Executive Director of Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre and Mrs Angela Dwamena Aboagye, an advocate of Women and Gender issues.
The awardees are expected to mentor five girls each who have been selected through the Model’s Girls essay competitions organised by Insight Foundation Ghana. The lives and contributions of the awardees have been documented in a booklet which was distributed at the event.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Executive Director of Insight Foundation, Mrs Christiana Gockel, described Ms Lokko as a great woman who had led the way for many and was yet to do more.
Touching on the awards, she said they were to inspire adolescent girls to remain in school to attain their academic goals and make a meaningful impact on their families and society at large.
She said the importance of the girl child in national development could not be overemphasised and, therefore, noted that the full potential of girls could be realised when they had the opportunity to develop their abilities.
“Any development agenda that misses out on girls and their sustainable development is doomed to repeat the mistakes of old and fail woefully in an all-inclusive higher standard of living for humanity,” she stated.
She said the awardees were expected to mentor the girls through advice, counselling and any support towards their future development.
The Director-General of the United Nations Information Centre, Ms Cynthia Prah, commended Insight Foundation Ghana for the innovative event to encourage young women and honour those who had taken the lead.
An initiative such as the Girls’ Inspirer Awards, therefore, seeks to draw society’s attention to offer opportunities to girls to read, see and attempt to emulate the lives of women who have made strides in their fields of endeavour and community at large.
The awardees in the remarks, accepted to mentor the girls and support them.
source: ghanaweb.com
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