Next year 2023, Ghana will go to the polls to elect members of the assembly to carry out development projects to ensure development at the local level; to this endeavour, ABANTU for Development, with the support of the African Women's Development Fund (AWDF), has outdoor steps to mobilize women for increased participation in the assembly discourse.
The study revealed that during the thirty-four (34) years of devolution, the highest number of contestants and winners was in 2006, when 1,772 women ran and 478 (11%) were elected from 4,732 constituencies (4,254 men). The 2019 local elections saw only 226 (3.7%) female winners out of over 6,270 constituencies (6,044 male) across the country. In an environment of exclusion and severe underrepresentation of women like this, the nation is losing out on diversity in leadership and achieving economic and social justice.
Despite this low representation, some African countries have made significant progress in terms of women's representation in public office. Examples include Mozambique (32.8%), Uganda (32%), Tanzania (31%) and South Africa (30%). All of these countries achieved this significant representation of women through some form of affirmative action.
Some of these African countries gained independence much later than Ghana.
Ms. Magdalene Awinyeliya Kannae, Gender, Local Government, Social Development and Peace Building Expert, said it is an urgent need for all stakeholders while speaking on the theme: “ELECTING MORE WOMEN IN THE 2023 LOCAL ELECTIONS IS A RIGHT INVESTMENT”. to mobilize women across the country to increase their participation and representation in the upcoming district level elections in 2023.
According to her, women have the capacity and zeal to make productive decisions for the development of the country when they are included at the decision-making table.
“Women facilitate genuine democratic participation that empowers local citizens and constructively channels their input into national development efforts; promotes rapid social and economic development; supports effective mechanisms to ensure public accountability; supports fair allocation of public resources; ensures fair participation and support of gender equality -sensitivity in overall development planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes; mitigates political manipulations to serve their own interests; promotes the inclusion of disadvantaged groups and minorities; guarantees the realization of human rights and promotes accountability, justice, fairness and access to national all".
stressing that the Government of Ghana must enact an Affirmative Action Act to allow women the same rights as men; and added that the passage of the Affirmative Action Act is not a threat to men in power.
Mrs. Magdalene Awinyeliya Kannae emphasized that development happens in communities and it is in communities that women and men can discover their voices, assert their rights and mobilize action to achieve their development aspirations; therefore, the government must pass legislation aimed at reserving special quotas for women and should also provide special funding for NGOs to support female candidates.
The Chairperson of the Manifesto Women Coalition, Hamida Harrison, said ABANTU For Development will support five local constituencies next year 2023 to ensure that women are elected to participate in discussions on the development agenda at the local level.
We add that ABANTU for Development as a major advocate for the inclusion of women in governance is fully committed to ensuring that more women are elected in local elections in 2023.
She took the opportunity to call on women to muster the courage to fight against men in the 2023 elections.
Honzo Charity Dela Siameh, the Tema-West assembly member, has encouraged her female colleagues to gather courage and stand up to men.
She said monetization in politics is one of the challenges women face especially at the local level.
"Money has become a decisive factor in Ghanaian politics. It has served to entrench elite rule as well as to politically exclude non-elite money-making policies which are at the heart of the general crisis of democracy and governance in Ghana. If this is not mitigated, reforms aimed at achieving good governance and curbing other anomalies in the political system may not bring the desired results," she said.
A press conference organized by ABANTU for Development with the support of the African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) to build women's capacity and support them in electoral processes was attended by women from various constituencies, media professionals and representatives of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social protection.
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