Ramatu Baba
{{short description|Ghanaian politician}}
{{Use Ghanaian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Ramatu Baba
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| image =
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| constituency_MP = Yendi
| parliament = Ghana
| majority =
| predecessor = New
| successor= Shanni Hazrat Mahama
| term_start = 1965
| term_end = 1966
| birth_date =
| birth_name = Ramatu Baba
| birth_place = Gold Coast
| death_date =
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| nationality = Ghanaian
| spouse =
| party = Convention People's Party
| relations =
| children =
| residence =
| alma_mater = Achimota School
| occupation =
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}}
Ramatu Baba was a Ghanaian politician in the first republic. She was the first female district commissioner in Ghana and the only woman to have been district commissioner for the Yendi district.{{cite journal |title=African Women, Volumes 2–5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VNJ0vYTqAIsC&q=Ramatu+Baba |page=48 |publisher=Department of Education in Tropical Areas, University of London, Institute of Education |date=1956 |journal=African Women}}{{cite web |url=https://www.businessghana.com/site/news/sports/90113/Ghanaians-asked-to-be-fair-to-all-their-leaders |title=Ghanaians asked to be fair to all their leaders |publisher=Business Ghana |accessdate=24 December 2019}} She was the member of parliament for the Yendi constituency from 1965 to 1966.{{cite journal |title=West Africa Annual, Issue 8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y03jAAAAMAAJ&q=Ramatu+Baba |publisher=James Clarke |page=81 |date=1965 |journal=West Africa Annual}}{{cite journal |title=Ghana Year Book 1966 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hMOAQAAMAAJ&q=Ramatu |publisher=Graphic Corporation |page=22 |date=1966 |journal=Ghana Year Book}}
Biography
Ramatu Baba was the daughter of the chief butcher of Yendi. She was educated in schools in her home district and Achimota School in Accra. She took up a job in the Social Welfare department at Tamale (the capital of the Northern Region) after school. She left civil service to work as a regional woman organizer for the United Ghana Farmers' Council (UGFC), a group under the Convention People's Party (CPP). She spent 3 years touring the entire region and her job extended to teaching the male farmers as well as the female farmers.
{{cite book |last=Little |first=Kenneth |author-link=Kenneth Little |date=1973 |title=African Women in Towns: An Aspect of Africa's Social Revolution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iOg3AAAAIAAJ&q=Ramatu+Baba+b.&pg=PA217 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=217|isbn=9780521202374 }} She was appointed District Commissioner for the Yendi district at the age of twenty-seven (27).{{cite book |last=Little |first=Kenneth |date=1973 |title=African Women in Towns: An Aspect of Africa's Social Revolution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iOg3AAAAIAAJ&q=twenty-seven+Ramatu+Baba&pg=PA216 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=216|isbn=9780521202374 }}{{cite book |author=FIDA Ghana |date=2004 |title=A guide to women's participation in public office |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qnQoAQAAIAAJ&q=Ramatu+Baba |publisher=Accra-North : FIDA-Ghana |page=xvi|isbn=9789988580186 }} She served Yendi as a District Commissioner until 1965 when she became the member of parliament (MP) for the Yendi constituency.{{cite journal |title=New Ghana, Volumes 8–9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BcEqAAAAMAAJ&q=Ramatu+Baba |publisher=Information Services Department Accra |page=247 |date=1964 |journal=New Ghana}}{{cite journal |title=Parliamentary Debates; Official Report, Part 2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fwpIAQAAIAAJ&q=Ramatu |page=iii and 8 |publisher=Ghana National Assembly |date=1965 |journal=Parliamentary Debates; Official Report}} She remained MP until February 1966 when the Nkrumah government was ousted.
In 2003, she appeared before the National Reconciliation Commission requesting that her two houses and a car that were seized after the first republic government was overthrown be returned to her. She explained that the Azu Crabbe commission had exonerated her however the then military government went on to confiscate her assets. She further added that she sent a letter to the PNDC government about her plight and she was directed to the Confiscated Assets Committee. The then head/chairperson of the commission Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu helped her acquire her buildings in Tamale which were then being occupied by others. The buildings were later taken back as the residents of the building also reported the case to the Confiscated Assets Committee. She had two sons.{{cite web |url=https://mobile.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Former-DC-appeals-to-NRC-41887 |title=Former DC appeals to NRC |date=30 November 2001 |publisher=Ghana Web |accessdate=24 December 2019}}