ActionAid sponsors female aspiring assembly members
ActionAid Ghana in partnership with the Network Of Communities In Development (NOCID), a Kadjebi-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), has sponsored nine female aspiring assembly members in the Kadjebi District in the Volta Region.
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The beneficiaries, who are from Dubonku, Kpalime/ Anani, Kadjebi Estate/Zongo, Ampeyo, Okanta, Kukurantumi, Mangoase and Poase Cement electoral areas, were presented with posters and other campaign logistics to help them in their electioneering.
Peaceful polls
At the programme at Kadjebi, the Co-ordinator of NOCID, Mr David Sah, appealed to the aspirants to eschew inflammatory statements, even if they were provoked by their opponents because that may cause rancour and could mar the beauty of the polls. He said that was the only way to ensure peace after the polls.
He also said ActionAid had been working in the Kadjebi District since 2003 and had supported many women in terms of skills training and start-up materials for making soap and pomade, and stressed that the main aim of these interventions was to empower women financially and socially, to enable them to contribute meaningfully to national development.
According to Mr Sah, ActionAid had also built classrooms for some schools in the area to ensure that the pupils had access to education. He mentioned these as a six-unit classroom block for Todome D.A. Primary School; three-unit classroom block for Kordibenum D.A. Primary School; three-unit classroom block for Wawaso D.A. Primary School; two-unit kindergarten block for Kukurantumi D.A. Primary School and a two-unit kindergarten block for Menuso D.A. Primary School. The rest are: a three-unit kindergarten block for Dodi-Akum Primary School and a two-unit kindergarten block for Kosamba D.A. Primary School.
Appeal to women
The Programme Officer of NOCID, Madam Agnes Obour, called on the aspirants to not conduct their campaigns in a partisan manner since election to the district assembly was non-partisan.
Madam Obour, who is also the Queenmother of Pampawie, bemoaned women’s lack of interest in contests for leadership positions, and called for a change of that attitude.
Rights to contest
The Kadjebi District Director for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Benjamin-Bert Yakah, said contesting the district assembly election was both a right and civic duty which could not be taken away from the aspirants.
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He added that neither the state nor individuals could take those rights away or overlook their denials since they were birth rights.
He also appealed to them to respect the rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests of others, and refrain from acts that were detrimental to the welfare of other persons.
The aspiring assembly member for Ampeyo Electoral Area, Madam Victoria Donkor, on behalf of the beneficiaries, thanked the benefactors for their kind gesture and promised that they would conduct decent campaigns.