Gender Clarifies ‘Heritage Newspaper’ Publication.
The Ministry of Gender, Children And Social Protection is taken aback at a report published in the Friday, June 16, 2023, Vol. 25 edition of the Heritage Newspaper, accusing the Gender Minister, Mrs. Williametta E. Saydee-Tarr of publicly condemning the LISGIS’s 2022 National Housing And Population Census Report.
The Ministry sees the publication as an unfair characterization of Minister Saydee-Tarr’s comments while speaking at a dedicatory ceremony of the Coalition of Political Parties Women in Liberia (COPPWIL) office. MoGCSP welcomes the critical deportment of the Liberian media but encourages a fair analysis of public comments.
The Ministry thinks that the content of the Minister’s statement was misinterpreted by the news outlet, and that, it would like to further clarify that at no time did the Gender Boss condemn the LISGIS’s 2022 Census Report as was published in the June 16, 2023 edition of the Heritage Newspaper.
The Minister did speak extemporaneously at the gathering, but purposefully used the occasion to elevate the message of the overwhelming numerical advantage of women, considering LISGIS’ 2022 Census report, wherein she indicated that women in politics must use the numbers as a key advantage to elect fellow-women to leadership positions ahead of the 2023 General and Presidential Elections.
The Ministry viewed her assertion as a figurative proposition describing the 49+% of women reported in the LISGIS’s 2022 Census as a rallying and motivational stepping stone that women should look at it like it’s a 50-50 chance for women, in matching the men’s current population to the advantage of securing more women on the ballot in 2023.
The ministry also considers the publication as a misrepresentation of what Minister Saydee-Tarr articulated, and that the writer reportedly twisted her words by misconstruing the context of her motivational expression
Minister Saydee-Tarr actually alluded to the power of the female vote, given the percentage recorded in the LISGIS’s 2022 Census report, stressing ‘if they check good, with our 49% and change, we could claim 50/50. That, in an honest view, cannot be equated or attributed to condemnation of the entire 2022 Census Report.
The Ministry uses the occasion to dispel claims attributed to Minister Saydee-Tarr that LISGIS did not conduct its counting process well, especially since the Gender Minister is a full-fledged, active and supportive Member of the LISGIS Board of Directors, who has since endorsed the Census report as a positive, for the onward developmental march of our nation.
At the same time, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection calls on news outlets to steadfastly seek further clarity on comments or statements made by public officials at all gatherings.
