Eric Nana Prempeh Agyemang, President of NALAG
Story by: Ishmael Barfi
District Assembly-level elections allow citizens to elect representatives who will make decisions on their behalf at the local level.
This ensures that the interests and concerns of the local community are properly represented in decision-making processes.
Local-level elections provide an opportunity for citizens to hold their elected officials accountable for their actions and decisions.
It Is against this background that Ghanaian voters have been entreated to treat the upcoming District Level Elections equally as the high-rated Presidential and General Elections.
Voters are also being called upon to vote massively for competent women candidates.
According to the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), it is time to see more women representation at the District Level, hence the need to advocate and encourage electorates to vote for women aspirants contesting to be Assembly representatives in their respective electoral areas.
To them, the current representation of female Assembly Members is very minimal and nothing to write home about.
Ghanaians Admonished To Treat District Assembly Elections Equally Important As General Elections
”It is time to break the bias and bring more women into our local government system.
This was made known at a press conference presented by Eric Nana Prempeh Agyemang, President of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana in Accra.
The engagement Is in partnership with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) as part of the six-year Project Partnership for Municipal Innovation for Women in Local Leadership (PMI-WILL) to make a passionate appeal to Ghanaians of voting age to fully participate in the upcoming District level elections and most importantly, vote massively for more women.
“To increase women’s participation at the local level of Governance, NALAG has partnered with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) to implement the Partnership for Municipal Innovation- Women in Local Leadership (PMI-WILL) project. The six-year project is taking place in 5 countries namely Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Benin, Zambia, and Ghana. In Ghana, the project is taking place in 5 regions and 5 Districts as indicated below: Greater Accra Region -Tema Metropolitan, Northern Region – Saboba District, Upper West Region – Nandom Municipal, Bono East Region – Atebubu Amantin Region and the Eastern Region – Kwahu West Municipal. The project aims to enhance the enjoyment of rights of girls and women and other marginalized groups”.
The two main objectives of the project according to the NALAG President, Is to increase women’s capacity to lead in local governance and also, to increase local government’s capacity to deliver inclusive, gender-responsive services.
He called on all stakeholders including the Electoral Commission (EC), The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs), and all other stakeholders to within these few days to vigorously, campaign to increase voter turnouts. “It’s better late than never”.
The low representation of women in the decision-making process at the local level he indicated, has a direct negative impact on the national quest to promote democracy, inclusivity, gender equality, and popular participation at the grassroots level.
“I must say we are wasting a huge amount of our women’s skills, knowledge, and experience that could have been harnessed for national and local development as a result of their exclusion from leadership positions and active involvement in the local governance process. I am calling on all Ghanaians of voting age to come out in their numbers to vote in this year’s local level elections and vote massively for the courageous women who will be contesting”.
He called on all citizens and all stakeholders to advance the course of having more women representation in MMDAs. “Even though we are asking the women to stand and be counted. We are also calling on the President of the Republic, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, as part of NALAG’s National campaign to have a gender-friendly and unbiased representation in the development agenda, appoint more women to shore up the numbers which will be elected in the upcoming District Level polls”.
Source: www.thenewindependentonline.com
