The Centre for Social Mobilization and Sustainable Development (CENSODEV), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), has launched its project in the Upper East Region to canvas for higher participation of women and other marginalized groups in the upcoming December 7 general elections.
CENSODEV is an NGO operating in the Upper East, Upper West, North East, Bono East, and Western regions that has envisioned a socially cohesive society where communities mobilize themselves, plan solutions, and sustainably build resilience for the future, addressing poverty and illiteracy collectively and transparently.
The Executive Director of CENSODEV, Mr. Braima Sanjage, says women have the intellectual abilities to occupy positions and make useful decisions for the collective benefit of society, hence his outfit’s move to whip up women’s interest in elections and election-related activities.
He spoke at the launch of the project in Navrongo, “We held what we call a street float. And it was a representative of all groups within the Upper East Region. So, it means the Upper East Regional Float of women advocating for more women to participate in the electioneering process this year.
Today is a very special day for us. Today, we have launched the program. It shows that now all the other four regions, Bono East Region, Western Region, North East Region, Upper East Region, and Upper West Region, automatically the project is launched. Now we can say that the activities in all those respective regions are automatically going to roll out. And our next activity is a town hall meeting, where we will bring stakeholders and more women’s groups to Bolgatanga Social Center for the town hall meeting. You know, the activity is taking place in the Upper East Region; we want to make sure that there is a single activity in each of the districts in the Upper East Region. My interactions with these women, I can see the intellectual capacity being displayed by these women when you are engaging them one-on-one. They are sidelined, and some of them are not even pushing themselves forward to participate. So these weaknesses that I see, and then because of our way of life, culturally, we say women belong to the kitchen and all those things. And I think that has actually prevented our women from coming out for us as a country to benefit from the intellectual ability of our women. I’ve interacted closely with them, and I can tell you they have a lot to offer, but we don’t give them the opportunity to do that.”
The Municipal Chief Executive of the Kassena Nankana East, Mr. Joseph Adongo, who launched the project, admonished women to develop themselves strategically, which will enable them to compete effectively with men for any position they desire.
He said, “Women, you must occupy a certain position so that you can influence decision-making. I don’t want the situation where you say the men are not giving them the chance. Nobody will give you any chance. Let me tell you here, where we have gotten to, nobody is going to give you anything. Go for it. Let’s turn shoulder-to-shoulder with the men. Never think that somebody will give you a position. Show that you can handle it. Show that if you get it, you can do it. We must consciously come out to get the information that will help us stand for certain positions. So, I want to appeal to our women, it is not like you are fighting men. No, we are both equal. It just happens that you are female, and I am male. So, having spoken about all these things, and the understanding behind this, that we need women to be part, especially going with this energy, this project that has been brought up, and all of us are involved. On behalf of the Paramount Chief of the Navrongo Traditional Area, and everybody here, I want to officially launch the project.”
The Paramount Chief of the Navrongo Traditional Area, Pe-Dennis Aneakwoa Belinia Adda, who chaired the event, called on politicians to embrace one another in their campaigns to foster unity among their followers.
“We are all from Navrongo. We can’t all belong to the same political party. We are not enemies. We are not enemies. So let’s practice democracy, and that is it.
We have brothers, fathers, and sons, in different political parties. Politics is about selling your ideas. It’s not about insults. Don’t insult each other because of politics.”
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Samuel Adagom|Ghana
