Some of the participants at the workshop
The Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has bemoaned the fact that none of the Presiding Members (PMs) in the 22 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) in the Western Region is a woman.
The Centre is also not happy that out of the numerous elected and appointed district assembly members, only 59 are women while two hold the position of District Chief Executive (DCE) in the region.
To this end, CDD-Ghana is poised to train and prepare women to contest for positions in the district assemblies in the next assembly elections.
The political think-tank has therefore organized a capacity building workshop for female assembly members in some parts of the region to help improve their performance and make them more productive in their communities.
The three-day workshop, which was under the theme, “Strengthening the Capacities of Assembly Women in the Western Region to be more Functional, Efficient and Productive,” was also attended by gender desk officers and other selected women in the region.
CDD-Ghana believes that improved capacity, skills and knowledge to perform the duties imposed by the Constitution and other relevant local government laws would help the assembly women to better deliver on their mandate in a more effective and efficient manner.
Addressing the women, Ambassador Francis Tsegah, a senior research fellow at CDD-Ghana, noted that improved performance of the current assembly women would serve as motivation for other women to aspire to become assembly women.
“It will also provide a justification for the electorate to consider voting more women into the district assemblies,” he added.
He mentioned some of the challenges confronting women in contesting for competitive political positions as negative comments against them, traditional and cultural stereotypes and financial.
“Yet in the face of all these challenges, it is also a fact that some women have remained steadfast and have been victorious over men to win seats in national and district political competitions,” Ambassador Francis Tsegah observed.
He continued, “Their performance validates the fact that women have the capabilities to serve their constituents and communities better if given the needed support.”
The workshop was organized with support from the French Embassy in Ghana.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi