Christopher Jator Njechu
29 September 2008
Women have been called upon to present candidacies to elected positions in government.
Lesotho's Member of Parliament and Minister of Local Government and Chieftainship, Madam Pontso Sekale, advised the women in Yaounde, recently, during a meeting attended by women and government officials.The purpose of the meeting, according to Sekale, was to facilitate the exchange of experiences on challenges faced by elected women and local government leaders.
She said it was also to build strategies for strengthening their role and leadership capacities to effectively implement decentralised governance programmes for poverty eradication in Africa.In a State by State inventory of women parliamentarians, the close to 22 women in the Cameroonian parliament was rated inadequate in an Assembly of 180 MPs and for a national population largely dominated by women.
Educated women were therefore urged to take the lead in the fight for their rights, as this will be emulated by the younger generation.To the Lesotho Minister of Local Government, women are to blame for their laxity to integrate themselves into politics as well as decision-making positions.
"Women are invaluable as individuals in shaping the democratic process of our nations. Let us present presidential, parliamentary, municipal candidacies," she told the participants.
She also encouraged them to massively vote female candidates. She explained that if women support female candidates during crucial elections they will rule nations and better fight social ills like corruption.
Holding under the theme "Strengthening women leadership in local government for effective decentralised governance and poverty reduction in Africa: roles, challenges and strategies", the session sought to concretise the decision taken earlier on by women leaders from local governments in African and European municipalities participating in the Euro-African Partnerships for Decentralised Governance.
Issues relating to participation in decision-making, gender equality and equity were top on the agenda and provided the opportunity for the women to re-examine their positions and why some of them shy away from presenting their candidacies into elected positions.
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