Take active part in upcoming district-level elections - Women advised
The Central Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mr Aliyu Mohammed, has called on women to take active part in the upcoming district— level elections to enable them to contribute meaningfully to the country’s development.
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He said since the 2010 Population and Housing Census indicated that women formed more than 50 per cent of the country’s population, they had to contest the district-level elections on march 3, 2015.
Women’s participation in governance
According to him, it was quite unacceptable for women to leave the governance of the country in the hands of their male counterparts, stressing, ‘’women must take up the challenge to be elected as assembly members for them to effectively take part in local governance.”
Mr Mohammed made the call during a focus group discussion to educate participants on the need to improve public participation in the district-level elections at Agona Duakwa in the Central Region.
It was attended by about 40 participants, including chiefs, opinion leaders, interest groups and some aspiring assembly members.
He advised the female aspirants not to feel intimidated as a result of the large number of male contestants but rather embark on vigorous campaigns that would see them elected.
Low Patronage
He indicated that participation of voters in the district-level elections had been low as compared to the national elections, attributing it to the lack of understanding of the decentralisation system.
He stressed that the concept of decentralisation was very key to the development of the country and, therefore, urged the citizenry to take keen interest in the elections which would enable them to vote for capable individuals to manage affairs at the local level.
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District NCCE Director
The Agona East District Director of the NCCE, Neenyi F.K.A. Tagoe, admitted that since 1988, participation in the district-level elections had been low, saying that the upcoming elections was more crucial to the progress of the nation than even the general election.
He attributed the low patronage to the lack of deeper understanding of the district assembly concept, and gave the assurance that the NCCE would embark on regular public education to sustain the interest of the electorate in the district level-elections.