Advertisement

Females, PWD share experiences on election 2012

Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP), a non-governmental organisation based in Kumasi, has organised a day’s workshop for females and persons with disabilities (PWDs) who contested the 2012 parliamentary elections in the Ashanti Region to share their experiences.

The participants shared their experiences on financial constraints and lack of support from the electorate as their major challenges during the 2012 election campaign.

They added that capacity building programmes from CEDEP and other organisations had built them up for the elections and commended CEDEP for the initiative.

They, however, expressed the hope that with the training and experiences gained so far, they would perform better in the next elections in 2016.

The workshop is part of an 11-month project by CEDEP dubbed: “Consolidating Ghana’s Democratic Credentials through ensuring a more Inclusive National Parliament” which began in February 2012. It aimed at bringing more women to Parliament and increase the number of PWDs in Parliament to enhance gender fairness and avoid discrimination against PWDs.

Besides, the project was designed to assess the needs of female and PWD parliamentary aspirants in the region, build their capacity through training sessions, monitor their campaign activities and create a platform for the them to market themselves. The project is being sponsored by Star-Ghana, UKaid, USaid and DANIDA.

In the last election, 24 women including a female with disability contested the parliamentary elections in 19 constituencies in the Ashanti Region of which four won.

Five of the female parliamentary candidates who attended the workshop with other heads of departments and representatives of political parties in Kumasi shared their experiences.

They were Joyce Osei of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Kwadaso Constituency; Benedicta Osei Boatemaa of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Atwima Nwabiagya South Constituency; Abena Nyarko of the National Democratic Party (NDP), Suame Constituency; Rita Nti Agyei of the Convention’s People Party (CPP), Ejisu Constituency and Rita Fosua of the Great Consolidated People’s Party (GCPP), Amansie West Constituency.

The GCPP’s candidate polled 525 votes and the PPP and PNC’s candidates secured 523 and 520 votes, those of the NDP and CPP had 194 and 119 votes in their respective constituencies.

On the other hand, female parliamentary candidates who contested on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) were absent at the workshop.

The Executive Director of CEDEP, Mr Patrick Amoateng-Mensah, emphasised the need for the country to have “strong women in parliament” to enhance the country’s democratic credentials.

He decried the situation where there had been a low number of females and PWDs in Parliament, saying that the country had not achieved better in terms of women and PWDs representation in legislation.

However, he commended President John Mahama for appointing a blind person, Dr Henry Seidu Daannaa, as Minister designate for the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs.

He then encouraged the female parliamentary candidates for their efforts and called on them to improve upon their communication skills, financial strength and campaign strategies for the years ahead.

Project Co-ordinator at CEDEP, Mrs Aba Oppong, led a presentation on the lessons learnt from the project.

 The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), Alhassan Yakubu, implored the female parliamentary candidates to improve upon their experiences, especially, in the area of communication skills.

Story by Joseph Kyei-Boateng, Kumasi

Connect With Us : 0242202447 | 0551484843 | 0266361755 | 059 199 7513 |