The Network for Women's Right (NETRIGHT) in Ghana has appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to appoint 60 per cent of women to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs). The Local Government Act, 2016 (Act 936) allows the President to appoint 30 per cent of Assembly men and women while the remaining 70 per cent are elected. The Organisation wants women to constitute 60 per cent of the 30 pee cent appointment arguing that only a few women were elected in the 2023 District Level Elections (DLE). They made the appeal at a press conference in Accra. It was supported by the Alliance for Women in Media Africa (AWMA), Women's Manifesto Coalition (WMC), Affirmative Action Bill Coalition (AABC) and the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG). Addressing journalists at the presser, Madam Patricia Blankson Akakpo, Head of Secretariat, NETRIGHT, indicated that women participation in local governance continued to dwindle over the years even though Ghana had enacted s everal laws to ensure that more women participated in that space. She said reports from the Electoral Commission indicated that only 4.1 per cent women got elected in the 2023 District Level Elections (DLE) while men constituted 95.9 per cent. Women representation at the Unit Committee level was also 12.8 per cent while men constituted 87.2 per cent. She said the figure was woefully inadequate hence the call on the President to give 60 per cent of the appointment to women. Mr Kokro Amankwah, General Secretary, NALAG, also supported the call for 60 per cent of women to be appointed into the MMDAs. 'Women have a lot of challenges and so at a point some women were forced to withdraw from the race. Some were marital issues, some were family issues. 'An Assemblywoman aspirant was asked to step down because her husband's brother was also contesting. That is the extent of challenges some women face.' He also noted that though DLEs were not supposed to be partisan according to the laws of the country, politica l parties got involved in the November 2023 elections. He said that brought about the issue of vote buying and women who did not have such resources had to step down. Madam Sheila Minkah-Premo, Convenor, Affirmative Action Bill Coalition (AABC), said women were unable to participate in local governance because they were burdened with several challenges, including child care. Madam Shamima Muslim, Convenor, Alliance for Women in Media Africa (AWMA), appealed to the media to give more coverage to women who were in politics, especially local governance so they could get more support from their communities. The Ministry of Local Government , Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD) will inaugurate the MMDAs on February. Source: Ghana News Agency
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