Women politicians urged to produce realistic campaign messages

Tamale, April 29, GNA - Mr. Moses Bukari Mabengba, the Northern Regional Minister, has appealed to women, particularly those seeking to contest the up-coming District Assembly elections, to produce realistic campaign messages that would be beneficial to the people.

He said the desire to capture votes from the people should not make them to make promises that they cannot fulfil.

Mr. Mabengba was addressing women during the launch of "The All Political Rights Project" in Tamale on Wednesday aimed at encouraging women to participate in the up-coming District Assembly elections. The Foundation for Female Photojournalists (FFP) and the Women's Manifesto Coalition (WMC) organized the project with support from the Institute of Local Government Studies.

Mr. Mabengba said the government's better Ghana agenda policy aimed would not be totally achieved if women were left out of governance. Mr. Mabengba urged the organizers to pay attention to the education of girls since lack of many educated women with requisite qualification, knowledge and skills was a major cause of the low participation of women in decision making.

Mrs. Kate Bob-Millar, a representative of WMC, said governments over the years had failed to find solutions to the under representation of women in politics.

She said Ghana was behind other African countries with regards to the role of women in politics and that gender discrimination, traditional prejudices, beliefs and perceptions as well as low literacy rates were hampering women efforts in politics.

Ms Esenam Adu-Gyamfi, Project Coordinator of FFP, said the project was facing financial difficulties because it is not a funded project. She appealed to philanthropists, donor organizations, development partners and people who have the interest of women in politics at heart to fund the programme.