ABANTU urges all to vote for women on Dec 7

ABANTU for Development, a women-centred non-governmental organisation, has organised a day’s briefing session for women’s rights organisations, youth groups, civil society and other key stakeholders on women’s effective preparations towards the upcoming elections.

The briefing session was facilitated by the Electoral Commission (EC) on ‘Gender equality and socially inclusive preparations towards election 2024’.

With support from STAR Ghana Foundation, ABANTU, as part of its contribution towards women’s effective participation in the upcoming election, launched the “Strengthening Advocacy for a Gender-Responsive and Inclusive Governance in Election 2024 and Beyond” project with an aim to increase the participation and representation of women, young women and women with disabilities within all decision-making spaces of Ghana’s governance system.

Since Ghana’s return to multi-party democracy in 1992, Ghana has organised eight successive elections, which have been considered credible, peaceful, free and fair. However, women’s representation in these elections still remains incredibly low.

All is set

The Deputy Director of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation of the Electoral Commission, Fred Tetteh, who took the participants through the session said all was set for the December 7 election to go on smoothly.

A total of 801 people made up of 119 women and 682 men were vying for 276 parliamentary seats across the country. 

According to him, a total of 18,774,159 valid voters are expected to vote, with the number made up of 9,689,980 women and 9,084,179 men with 55,492 of them being persons living with disabilities (PWDs).

He said older people, pregnant women, lactating mothers and PWDs always have preferential treatment at the polling centre and, therefore, they should take advantage of it.

He said for persons who are visually impaired, the EC, since 2004, introduced the tactile system where they could vote without any assistance.

Also for the elderly, to ensure the secretness of their ballot, Mr Tetteh said they could only be assisted up to a point but not when they are thumb printing, saying it is only when they request that they need someone inside the booth to help them thumbprint that the presiding officer would allow their aide to assist them.

The Head of Programmes, ABANTU, Grace Ampomaa Afrifa, in a remark, called on all to vote for the few women who were vying for parliamentary seats.

According to her, if care was not taken, the already low representation of women in parliament would further drop as the number of women standing was low.

The Coordinator of the Affirmative Action Law Coalition, Becky Ahadzi, called on all political parties to ensure they complied with the requirements and mandate given to them under the Affirmative Action Act and also asked the populace to refrain from gender-specific attacks and victimisation and harassment of women in politics during the election, especially now that the Act makes it an offence. 

We encourage the populace to support the women candidates standing on the ballot. Let us all remember to "Vote for WOMEN" in the upcoming December 2024 elections and continue working towards a more gender-inclusive political landscape in Ghana,” she added.

Writer’s email: rebecca.quaicoe-duho@graphic.com.gh