Six women contest assembly elections in Asante-Akim South

Efforts at encouraging strong representation of women in the Asante-Akim South District Assembly, had largely remained unsuccessful with just six women contesting the District Assembly election in the area.

The figure becomes even more disappointing considering the fact that there are 18 women in the current 67-member assembly, which has almost run its full term.

Mr Afrifa Blankson, the District Electoral Officer, said all the six women candidates are contesting the election for the first time and that none of the incumbent women decided to seek re-election.

In all, 124 candidates have put themselves up for the assembly poll.

He told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that the proportion of women in the unit committee elections was not any better with just nine of them among the 130 contestants.

Generally, the people in the area have not shown interest in the coming district level elections. Some communities have only one or two people filing their nomination to be elected to the unit committees.

He said the Electoral Commission (EC) was set and that beginning February 20, it would mount a platform for the candidates to engage with the electorate.

Mr. Samuel Otchere, the District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), expressed dissatisfaction with the low level of women’s participation in the election.

He said he found the development quite disappointing considering the intense effort put in by the commission to get more women to fight for elective positions.

He said it was about time women broke the myth that politics was the preserve of men, adding that, the assembly and unit committee elections presented the perfect opportunity to build their confidence to pursue political careers.