Gov't asked to prioritise District Assembly elections

Ghana, a civil society organisation, has urged the government and other stakeholders to give equal attention to the forthcoming District Assembly election just as they offer during Parliamentary and Presidential elections.

The Programme Facilitator of IBIS- Ghana, Ms Safia Musah, who gave the advice in Bolgatanga, said the District Assembly election is a very important exercise since it forms the basic roots of democracy.

Ms Musah, who was speaking at a day’s training programme for Media Practitioners on the Promotion of Women in Local Governance, asked the government to release funds to the Electoral Commission to be able to organise the District Assembly election in time to help Ghana maintain her good reputation at the global level.

Mr Somalia S. Saaka, former News Editor of Ghana News Agency, asked media practitioners to give aspiring women candidates of the political parties equal coverage they accord their male counterparts.

He said a section of the media are also fond of setting the agenda that tend to trivialise women issues and stereotype them instead of focusing on their good sides.

He attributed this to the inequality of gender positions in governance, adding that Ghana cannot boast of democracy when women are marginalised.

Mr Seidu Musah Akugri, Programme Manager of Community Development and Advocacy Centre, said his outfit organised the programme to strengthen the media to advocate and influence gender sensitive and women led programmes, policies and agenda by traditional authorities , government and other relevant stakeholders ,especially towards the upcoming District level elections.

The workshop organised under the Democratic Consolidation and Accountable Governance Programme in collaboration with IBIS-Ghana was on the theme: “Women in Decision-Making: The Role of the Media for Enhancing Women’s Politic al Participation in Local Elections.”

Mr Somalia S. Saaka, a former News Editor of the Ghana News Agency who facilitated the workshop indicated that apart from the Media given lower coverage to women aspiring for political posts , it was the same Media which often compounded the situation by setting the agenda for trivializing women issues and stereotyping them instead of focusing on their good sides.

He attributed partly the inequality of gender positions in governance to the way and manner Media Practitioners including media their Media houses marginalized and trivialized women particularly during election campaigns.

The former Editor impressed upon Media Practitioners and their houses to make amends and to promote more women in the forthcoming District Assembly and Parliamentary and Presidential elections.

Mr Seidu Musah Akugri , the Programme Manager of Community Development and Advocacy Centre (CODAC ) said his outfit under the Democratic Consolidation and Accountable Governance (DC AG) Project in collaboration with IBIS-Ghana organized the training programme to strengthen the Media personnel to advocate and influence gender sensitive and women led programme, policies and agendas by traditional authorities , government and other relevant stakeholders ,especially towards the upcoming District level elections.

The workshop had its theme,” Women in Decision-Making: The Role of the Media for Enhancing Women’s Politic al Participation in Local Elections”.