District Election 2023: Vote Massively For Female Candidates, ABANTU For Development Tells Ghanaians
District Election 2023: Vote Massively For Female Candidates, ABANTU For Development Tells Ghanaians
District Election 2023: Vote Massively For Female Candidates, ABANTU For Development Tells Ghanaians
The ABANTU for Development Ghana has called the Ghanaian electorate to mobilise and vote for women who will be contesting in the upcoming 2023 District Level Elections to increase women representation in decision making.
According to ABANTU, over the years, women have increasingly shown interest in the local government system that is intended to bring government to the doorstep of the people but however, they have failed to attain the 30% UN recommended minimum threshold in representation in the assemblies making gender- based exclusion a major deficit.
Women’s full and equal participation in political and electoral processes can be considered to be one of the litmus tests for women’s empowerment and gender equality.
Speaking at a press conference in the early hours of Monday 22rd May, the Public Relations Manager for National Association of Local Authorities in Ghana (NALAG), Nii Adjetey Edmund Adjei said women participating in elections, whether partisan or non-partisan, without unfair gender-based barriers is a core component of delivering on the basic elements of democracy.
Adding that, women involvement in decision making and politics will curtail the corruption in government.
“As a country, we understand that over the years women have contributed massively to local governance and decision-making when it comes to critical issues but unfortunately, we have not given women that spotlight. Whenever we give women the opportunity we see modifications.
I have not heard in our society or politics where women have been tagged for corruption-related issues. I’m yet to see serious issues where women in politics have been tagged for corruption. When we talk about corruption the figures we see all the time are men, so that should tell us that something is not right.
If we want to change the issues as far as corruption is concerned, then I think we should push more women into decision-making positions which will also curtail the corruption we have in our society today”.
Out of 261 MMDCAs, only 39 are females which represent 15%, and out of 261 presiding members only 10 are females representing 3.9% and the assembly members still are the same 3.9% we are not doing well.
He emphasized, the development of a country starts from the local level hence there is a need to increase the developmental project at the local level.
Touching on the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill into law, he said, it is key and important for the country’s politics as far as local government is concerned.
He urged the press to intensify their voices to help Champion the call for an increased number of women in society.
“We hardly hear discussions on inclusivity when the issue of politics at local government is concerned. And even in local elections we hardly hear of it. We have five months to organize and we have not heard anything about the local level election. We are rather talking more about the 2024 general elections”.
On his part, Board Member for Abantu for Development, Kingsly Ofei Nkansah said, inclusion of women in District Assemblies, is crucial for gender sensitivity facilitating the equitable allocation of public resources as he calls for the immediate spread of the Affirmative Action Bill into Law that will facilitate the 40% representation of women in decision making.
