The Afigya Kwabre North District Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) is engaging various identifiable groups ahead of the District Level Election (DLE) scheduled for Tuesday, December 19.

This is to ensure they participate actively in the exercise to elect assembly and unit committee members to spearhead development in their local areas, as stipulated in the decentralisation concept.

Led by Ms Jemimah Osei, the District Director, officials of the Directorate engaged churches, Muslim communities, Tailors and Dressmaking Associations and food vendors at Boamang and Denase, on the theme: “Empowering Communities.”

They took their audience through the importance of local elections and the roles of their representatives in lobbying for resource allocation at the district assembly level.

Most of the participants, however, expressed apathy in the local elections, citing non-performance on the part of their assembly members over the years as one of the reasons.

Ms Osei took time to convince them to rethink their abstinence in the interest of community development, reminding them that it was imperative for them to determine who they wanted to represent them.

After the elections, they had a responsibility to demand whatever the candidates promised to do for the community and urged them not to relinquish their civic right to vote.

“The District Level Elections are very important because you get to vote for people that will represent you at the local level,” she said.

“These individuals are integral parts of your communities, providing a channel for your needs to be advocated within the Assembly.”

She said elected assembly members served as channels through which assemblies conveyed development projects to communities through the lobbying and advocacy.

Electing such people should, therefore, be a priority for every citizen interested in the development of their local areas, she added.

A former Member of Parliament (MP) for Jomoro, Mr. Paul Essien has emerged winner in the Jomoro New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Primaries.

He polled 496 out of total valid votes of 1,055 against two other contestants in the election conducted and supervised by the Municipal Electoral Officer, Madam Lydia Ignatius Cudjoe.

Mr Paul Hopeson Kwaw polled 289 of the valid votes cast with Mr. Ishmael Evonla Kwame Whajah scooping 270 of the valid votes.

Two of the ballot papers were rejected.

The National Executive Council (NEC) of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) opened nominations for interested candidates to contest in orphan Constituencies throughout the country.

The Jomoro primaries which was originally slated for December 4,2023, was postponed due to misunderstanding among the Parliamentary aspirants.

After a stakeholders meeting, vetting and balloting, at the regional office, December 16 was slated for the primaries.

Water crisis in Adjen-Kotoku in the Ga West Municipal Assembly will be resolved when I am given the nod as the Assemblymember, Mr Jonas Malm Newlove Mohammed Odartei, alias Agoogo, Assembly member aspirant for the Area has said.

Mr Odartei was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview ahead of the polls.

He said he would liaise with the Landlords’ Association in the area and with Ghana Water Company’s support connect pipe borne water to their homes, which had already started by Rush Company, manufacturer of drinks and other products, from Medie to Cafeè Junction.

The aspirant said government had also put in place water reservoirs out of which few people had access, adding that he would use his office to help connect many to the project to solve their water challenges.

Mr Odartei is contesting the seat with two others -Mr Francis Botwe and Madam Breatrice Kafui Badasu.

The incumbent, Mr Henry Chantei, is not contesting again.

Aside solving the water supply challenge, Mr Odartei has education, security, sanitation, health, poverty reduction, among others as his priorities.

In his manifesto, Mr Odartei promised extending LEAP to many more aged.

He promised to provide free vacation classes every three months for final year students of Junior High School, Senior High School as well as those learning vocational skills.

For healthy citizens, the aspirant promised keeping the environment tidy by providing dustbins at vantage points, and cleaning exercises that would also create employment.

He said he would also organise free health screening as well as organise football matches to promote unity.

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has expressed disappointment and concern over the low participation of women in the 2023 District Level Elections (DLEs) slated for December 19. 

It said despite several efforts to promote women participation in governance and decision-making processes to bridge the gender gap, promote sustainable development, both at the national and local levels, the task to getting women aspire for leadership positions remained a herculean challenge. 

Mr Mawuli Agbenu, the Upper East Regional Director of the Commission who expressed these concerns in an interview with the Ghana News Agency was reacting to the small number of women aspirants in this year’s election in the region. 

Statistics from the Electoral Commission (EC) revealed that no woman had filed to contest in this year’s election in three out of the 15 Municipal and District Assemblies across the region namely; Garu, Tempane and Nabdam. 

Apart from that, despite a total of 949 people filing to contest in the District Assembly elections in the region, only 25 are women. 

Similarly, only 156 women out of the 1,936 have filed to contest in the Unit Committee elections across the region. 

This, the Regional Director stressed, was, “woeful and we don’t even know how many of them will win” but encouraged Ghanaians to vote for more women in the upcoming election to increase the representation of women in decision making structure at the local level. 

He indicated that the participation of women in decision making process was not only crucial to addressing the numerous challenges confronting the growth and progress of women and children, but necessary ingredient to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Mr Agbenu said apart from the financial burden which was compelling many women not to put themselves up for leadership positions, there were some sociocultural norms and barriers that needed to be removed to strengthen and empower women towards taking up leadership roles in governance. 

“When women are not represented at the decision-making table, their concerns, and interests and that of their children’s are mostly not considered.  

“Apart from that, more than half of the workforce of the informal sector in this country are women and if they are not involved in decision making, it means that their economic opportunities and interests are not being taken care of, forcing them to remain in poverty,” he lamented. 

He said while the NCCE would continue to intensify education for more women participation in governance, it was imperative for the government to honour the 1992 Constitutional provision by appointing more women into governance. 

Mr Joachim Elbazar, Nabdam District Director of the NCCE, told the GNA that women play pivotal role in shaping families and society while contributing to the country`s economy, but their low participation in politics, particularly in the DLE, was defeating the advocacy for women’s empowerment. 

“It is time women took courage to contest for positions to lead and not see themselves as followers all the time because they can be better leaders as well, and I call on them to come out strongly in opportunities like this to make a case for themselves,” he stated.