Tema West parliamentary candidates engage in debate

Tema, Nov 19, GNA - Two parliamentary candidates contesting the Tema West constituency seat have promised to address pertinent issues facing people with disability in the constituency when voted to parliament on December 07.

Mr George Medie and Mr Isaac Kofi Asempa, parliamentary candidates for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Convention People's Party (CPP) respectively gave the promise on Monday during a parliamentary debate for parliamentary candidates in the constituency. Madam Irene Naa Torshie Addo, the parliamentary candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was however absent from the debate. The one and a half hour debate, which was organized by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD) in collaboration with the Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD) was attended by residents of the constituency, students of the State School for the Deaf and other physically challenged persons.

The constituency covers communities two, three, five, six, 10, 11, 12, Lashibi, Sakumono and Adjei Kojo.

The two took turns to answer questions on local government, sanitation, youth employment, violence and other national issues, asked by the moderators Mr Kofi Quantson, a member of the Coalition of Election Observers and Dr Bashiru Koray of the Ghana Federation of the Disabled.

Mr Medie stated that he has already initiated a project to establish a special school to cater for children with disability in the constituency.

He said under the project, parents would be trained to properly care and educate their physically challenged children, adding that, the State School for the Deaf, which is located in the constituency, would also receive infrastructural improvement.

Mr Asempa on his part said a CPP government would ensure that two percent of the district assembly's common fund would be given to the disabled federation to address welfare problems of its members. He noted that the CPP would also establish a National Disability Council with offices in all the districts in the country, to effectively handle the numerous problems facing physically challenged persons. The two candidates agreed that district chief executives should be elected to ensure accountability as well as strengthen the local governance system.

They also shared common view that unit committee members should be paid to motivate them to work efficiently and effectively for the rapid development of the districts.

Mr Theodore Dzeble, Public Affairs Officer of CDD-Ghana in a welcome address said the Centre organized the parliamentary debates in 30 constituencies in all the 10 regions of the country, as part of its programmes to make this year's election campaign issue-based and less personality driven, to enable the electorates make informed choices during the polls.

Mr Dzeble further stated that training programmes have also been held for all the parliamentary aspirants in the 30 selected constituencies to help candidates effectively communicate their programmes to the electorates.

He said the criteria for the selection of the constituencies included traditional strongholds of specific political traditions, electoral areas prone to violent conflicts, constituencies with female candidates or disabled candidates, and seats that were keenly contested in previous elections and those likely to be intensely contested during the forth coming elections. 19 Nov 08