Appoint one woman from each region to Parliament

Wa, March 10, GNA - Women in the Upper West Region have called on the government to find ways of getting one woman from each region appointed to any future Parliament in addition to those elected at the constituency level.

They further urged the government to enforce the quota system at all levels of the political system and ensure that any metropolitan, municipal or district assembly that did not meet the 50 per cent quota of appointed members reserved for women, was not inaugurated in future. The women made these calls and suggestions in a communiqu=E9 issued at Wa to mark this year's International Women's Day in the Region after assessing the situation of the Ghanaian woman after 50 years of independence at a forum held at Nandom in the Lawra District in February this year.

They called for the inclusion of women in all statutory boards, committees and corporations through the quota system and urged district assemblies to allocate adequate resources for capacity building of assemblywomen.

The women thanked the government and Parliament for passing the domestic violence bill and appealed to the government to impress upon the National and Regional Houses of Chiefs to reduce the bride price to make it affordable for the poor in society. Government should initiate early conflict resolution mechanisms to mitigate all forms of civil strife in the country to avoid loss of innocent lives, especially the vulnerable, they added.