Thursday, October 21, 2010

WOMAN CONTESTS ASSEBLY ELECTIONS IN KULINKPEGU (PAGE 13, OCT 21, 2010)

AS government and civil society groups increase their efforts towards deepening women’s participation in governance, more rural women are gearing up to contest elections in the re-scheduled 2010 district assembly elections.
One of these courageous women is Ms Adam Abiba who hails from Kulinpkegu, a farming community in the Yendi municipality of the Northern Region.
Her candidature would make her the first woman in her area to contest the assembly elections to represent the Kalinkpegu Electoral Area since the assembly system commenced.
Ms Abiba is one of the beneficiaries of an European Union (EU) project known as Support for Women to Participate in Elections (SWOPE), which seeks to build the capacities of women to play a major part in local governance.
The project is being implemented by the Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA) a network of organisations working in Northern Ghana.
As part of the implementation of the project, the GDCA organised a community durbar in Kalinpkegu to solicit support for female aspirants for the December 28, 2010 assembly elections.
Addressing the gathering, Ms Abiba noted that when elected into office her priority would be to work with the Assembly towards putting up a new school building for her community because the existing ones started collapsing a few years ago.
“The absence of a school block has affected primary education in our district as the children are compelled to sit under trees,” she stated.
Ms Abiba again mentioned that she would serve as a strong voice for her community at the assembly level and ensure that the area got a fair share of development projects, such as roads, schools, sanitation facilities and health centres.
She also indicated her desire to work hand in hand with the District Agricultural Directorate to address the challenges facing farmers in her electoral area, some of which include their inability to acquire inputs and storage facilities.

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