Ashanti 31st DWM ends three-day conference

Kumasi, (Ashanti Region) 25 Jan. '99,

The Ashanti Regional Branch of the 31st December Women's Movement (DWM) has expressed satisfaction with the bold and far-reaching measures contained in the recent cabinet's policy statement on affirmative actions on women. This was contained in a communique issued last Friday by the movement at the end of a three-day regional conference held at Kumasi for more than 70 participants selected from all the 18 districts in the region.

The conference which had the theme, "Women Poverty is national poverty", was aimed at reviewing and appraising the state of the movement, its activities and various national issues relating to women. The communique said the Government's positive initiative on the affirmative action on women is "another demonstration of its commitment to ensuring that all necessary legal frameworks are in place to enhance the realization of the full benefits of the decisions of the Beijing Conference".

The communique reminded Ghanaians, especially women to take full advantage of the opportunities offered in the cabinet's policy statement to their fullest benefits. It expressed its disgust about the recent spate of reported murders and attempted women abductions and called on women to be vigilant and expose all the suspected criminals. The communique commended the Government for allocating 20 per cent of the District Assembl's Common Fund for poverty alleviation and called on the District Chief Executives to ensure that, the Government's directive on the fund is strictly adhered to and implemented. Closing the conference, Mrs Gladys Yawa-Kpo, Project Officer at the National Secretariat of the Movement, commended the participants for the seriousness they attached to the conference.

Mrs Yawa-Kpo, who is also in-charge of Ashanti Regional programmes, stressed the need for the movement to critically take stock of their achievements and failures and back their resolutions with positive actions to sustain the movement. Ashanti, she said, is one of the dynamic branches of the movement in the country and hoped it members would continue to pursue programmes with other social and religious organisations to enhance their performance. GRi