It is 6pm and one can hear children playing in the neighbourhood of Odorkor, an Accra suburb.

Some middle-aged women can also be seen in houses lining the highway preparing evening meals.

It is that time of the evening when families assemble over meals after a long day.

But the Forson’s home is ’empty’. No evening family activity as the mother of the home – 41-year-old Sarah Ahema Forson is preparing to embark on a campaign for the upcoming District Level Elections (DLE) slated for December 19.

The Assemblywoman, who is seeking re-election, is not able to campaign during the daytime due to her full-time job as an Accountant.

The strategy, therefore, is to abandon her home in the evenings to engage the electorate at night-a time women are expected to provide ‘home’ to their families, especially children.

Though noticeably tired with heavy eyes and legs, Sarah dragged her legs through the trenches in her bid to retain her seat as the Assembly Woman for the Tsuimaami Electoral Area.

But the inspiration i
s not only the retention of the seat.

She tells the Ghana News Agency that her motivation is to be the voice of women and the vulnerable in decision making.

By 9pm, Sarah, her Husband and this Reporter had visited a few households with her message of community development, receiving applause from some voters.

An old woman, nearing 70 years, was moved by the mud stains on Sarah’s blue jeans due to the campaign activities and charged her household to vote for her.

‘Let’s push women. We need women there. See what Sarah is doing. See all that she is going through. All of you should vote for her. We already have many men there…,’ she said with a broad smile.

Ghana is among countries that have made several commitments through statues and treaties to promote and empower women and ensure there is equality and freedom of participation in all spheres of public life, including politics.

The 1992 Constitution has portions dedicated solely for the promotion of women’s rights and participation in politics.

Article 3
5, clause 6 (d), states that ‘make democracy a reality by decentralising the administrative and financial machinery of government to the regions and districts and by affording all possible opportunities to the people to participate in decision-making at every level in national life and in government’ -the people refer to both men and women.

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.

Despite this provision, the number of women in local government is still low.

A report by Star Ghana Foundation indicates that out of the 2,242 appointments made by the President, women are only 591, constituting 26 per cent.

The situation is same in the appointment of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives.

Only 38 women out of the 261 got the nod from the President.

In the appointment of MMD Coordinating Directors, 34 out of 261 appointed directors are females and in the appointment of Chief Direc
tors in the Regions (Regional Coordinating Directors), only two out of a total of 16 were appointed by the President.

This has compelled Sarah to abandon her home at nights for campaigns to compete with six men to be elected the Assemblywoman for her area.

She is hopeful that the work she did over the past four years, including desilting of gutters, enrollment of young people in dress and hair making and the construction of drainages will secure her another victory in the upcoming elections.

Fortunately for her, she has siblings taking care of h10-year-old son while she and her husband are on the campaign trail.

Though the campaign appears to be going well, she gets to the office late the next morning and faces queries.

‘Government should ensure that a good percentage of the 30 per cent appointment go in favour of women to fulfill the many statues, protocols and conventions that Ghana has appended its signature to,’ she tells the GNA.

Same appeal was made by the Alliance for Women in Media Africa (AWMA)
at its stakeholder engagement, which centred on ‘DLE and Women’s Representation’.

Madam Shamima Muslim, Founder and Convener, AWMA, says women’s involvement and participation in local governance would bring about diversity, enhance responsiveness and leverage synergies.

She also says building women’s capacities to participate in governance at that level enriches Ghana’s human capital by building critical masses of women with understanding in governance; and making more local female role models available.

Mr Kokro Amankwah, General Secretary, National Association of Local Authorities Ghana (NALAG), says more women should be given a chance to hold political offices at the local level.

‘When we are talking about democracy and we decide to leave women or not to support women the way we should, it becomes a democratic deficit and we cannot pride ourselves as a nation and think that we are the gateway to Africa in terms of democracy and other things without paying attention to our women,’ he says.
Source: Ghana
News Agency