Kumasi: NCCE urges women to participate in district elections

The Ashanti Regional Head of programmes of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mr. Emmanuel Wiredu, has urged women to involve themselves in the upcoming district level elections to enable them to participate in the decision-making process at the district level.

Mr Wiredu observed there was low participation of women in elections conducted in the country and that apart from parliamentary elections, assembly elections were other avenues where they could deepen participation in decision-making processes.

Speaking to Otec News reporters’ Mabel Fosu and Paulina Bonsu at his office on Tuesday, July 2, 2019, Mr. Wiredu asked females aspiring candidates not to be intimated by anybody, and asked them to report acts of intimidation to the police.

He said it was important that the public desisted from discrimination against women and PWDs during assembly and parliamentary elections campaigns.

‘’Some aspects of cultural practices, inferiority complex and religious impediments are some problems affecting women’s participation in the District Level Elections, so we are embarking on massive sensitization programmes to enhance women participation in the elections at all levels.

‘’We are very much particular about low representation of females in local governance and at institutional levels and not only district assembly elections because women are perceived to less corrupt as compared to their men counterpart’’, Mr Wiredu observed.

Mr Wiredu noted that previous elections had recorded low women participation and this should not be allowed to continue and appealed to women to get out of their slumber and offer themselves for elections and actively participate in the decision making process of the local governance.

He, however, urged all the aspiring candidates to refrain from doing “dirty campaigns” and also desist from affiliating themselves with one political party or the other.

He advised aspirants to eschew divisive and negative tendencies such as envy, rancor and back-biting in order to forge ahead in unity and love to achieve their set goals.

The Regional Head of programmes, called on chiefs, opinion leaders and religious leaders to support more women and PWDs to engage in successful campaigns.

He appealed to the media to help the NCCE to disseminate its civic education messages emphasizing the need for the media to continue to play its expected roles by offering the education in areas that would help improve women’s participation in the elections saying, “If women are well represented in the various assemblies some NGOs may identify them and give the needed support to promote development”.

Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com/John Antwi Boasiako