‘Encourage women to take up leadership positions’

Husbands have been urged to encourage their wives to participate in the local level elections because they were also equally capable to be in leadership positions.

“Women constitute the majority in the society and it is worrying that only 30 percent of them are in positions of governance, which is not the best for the country’s democratic dispensation,” Stakeholders in Awutu-Senya District said at a day’s meeting held at Awutu Bereku on the forthcoming District Level Elections.

The meeting which was organized by Awutu-Senya District Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) with sponsorship from the European Union, discussed issues relating to why women and Persons With Disability’s (PWD) participation in the local elections was low.

It was on the topic “Stakeholders engagement and consultations with identifiable women groups and PWDs to participate in the 2015 District Level Elections”.

The participants were of the view that when it came to taking care of the home, the women were the leaders, adding that such notions should be eschewed and women as well PWDs be given the nod and supported to be part of governance.

The District NCCE Director, Mr. Andrews Ofori Larbi, told the participant, made up of Civil Society Groups, Traditional Authorities, Religious Leaders, Assembly members, Women aspirants and Physical Challenge Persons that, the meeting was part of their core duty to create a platform for stakeholders to discuss issues and to come out with suggestions that could help encourage all persons to participate in the elections.

He also reminded them of the non-partisan nature of the local level elections and urged them to abide by the rules to ensure sanity in the country’s grassroots governance.

The participants were schooled on the structure and functions of the district assemblies, the roles of the assemble members/unit committees.

The Deputy Central Regional Director of NCCE, Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed said over the past 20 years of the country’s democracy, there has not been any hindrance and that as a people “we” should continue to contribute “our” quota to sustain it.

Rev. Father Daniel Ganu, Parish Priest of Saint Mark Catholic Church in Awutu Bereku, who chaired the meeting, appealed to the participants to disseminate the outcome of the meeting to people in their communities.