Out of the 54 aspirants who picked nomination forms to contest in the National Democratic Congress(NDC) primaries in the Upper East Region, only three women picked forms before the Friday July 12, deadline.
This is unfortunate, especially when in recent times there have been calls for more women to participate in politics in Ghana.
The Upper East Region since 1992 has been very loyal to the NDC and in many cases the only obstacle between an NDC apirant and Parliament is the constituency primaries. It was expected that many more women will pick nomination forms and count the likes of Minority leaders, Haruna Iddrisu and women advocacy groups to lobby with men in the party to step down to pave way for the NDC to have many women in Parliament.
Each of the political zones in the Upper East Region produced one woman at the end of the sales of nomonation forms. The Eastern zone had Hajia Laadi Ayishetu Ayamba the incumbent Member of Parliament picking a form to contest again in Pusiga. For the Central Zone (BONABOTO Zone) Dr. Vida Yakong picked a form to contest Dr. Mark Nawaane for the second time in the Nabdam District, then in the Western Zone, a former Reporter of the TV3 Network, Eva Atiboka also picked a form to contest the Member of Parliament for Builsa North, James Agalga.
The remaining 51 aspirants are all men, with some of them being first-timers. Others are former MPs who are returning to attempt a possible return to parliament.
The former MPs staging a come back include, Opam Brown Akolbire in the Bolgatanga Central who will like to take advantage of some work done during the recent Constituency and branch elections in the constituency. Former MP for Binduri, Ben Noah Azure will be contesting in the Binduri Constituency maybe just to keep his name ringing. The Builsa North will see the return of former MP, Timothy Awentiirim Ataboade to contest the primaries. Former MP for Zebila Constituency, Cletus Apul Avoka will be contesting again for the NDC and possibly win the seat again.
Below is the full list of aspirants at the close of sales of Nomination Forms on Friday, July 12, 2019.
Source: A1radioonline.com | 101.1MHz | Ghana
