Madam Otiko Afisah Djaba, National Women Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has made a clarion call for increase in women participation in the upcoming local government elections in the country.
She said despite the 51 percent women population in the country, their level of involvement in governance and decision-making was woefully insignificant, a situation she described as unacceptable, considering the important role that women play in society.
Madam Otiko noted that women have only 6.7 percent representation at the district level elections, and 30 women Parliamentarians (16 NPP and 14 NDC) out of the 275 Members of Parliament that constitute the Legislature.
Madam Otiko who made the call when she met Women Organizers of the NPP in Wa, as part of her nationwide tour, appealed to government, civil society, women in executive positions, and human rights organizations, among others, to come out to encourage and support women to pick up forms to contest the local elections.
“It is not enough for a woman to pick a form, after picking and filing, she must win in order to boost her own confidence and that of others,” she stated.
The NPP Women Organizer accused government of paying lip-service to its promise to appoint 40 percent of women into governance positions.
She equally questioned why the Affirmative Action Bill was still bundled about in Parliament, and called for more action by the Parliament to pass the Bill into an Act for it to work for women in the country.
Madam Otiko said Ghana was touted as the beacon of Democracy in Africa, and also a signatory to so many international conventions on the rights of women, and must therefore demonstrate that in practical terms.
She called on the three arms of government, namely, the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, as well the Media, to walk the talk by ensuring that at the end of the District Assembly elections, women would have a minimum of 40 percent representation at the local level.
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