The Center for the Development of People (CEDEP), a gender-based advocacy (NGO), has called for the need to increase the representation of women and persons with disabilities (PWDs) in parliament.

The current situation of under-representation of women and zero presence of PWDs in parliament is not good for the country’s democracy.

A press statement signed by the Project Director, Mr. Charles S. Sakyi, said as part of efforts to correct the imbalance, CEDEP is partnering with STAR-GHANA to roll out a cross partisan project to ensure strong presence of marginalized groups in parliament, irrespective of their political affiliations.

It said the project would receive funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Union (EU).

The statement said, CEDEP seeks to achieve this through capacity building programmes during which participants would be trained in the use of effective and ethically accepted campaign methodologies comprising issue-based non-violent strategies.

It said this would help the candidates to earn the trust and confidence of the electorate to enhance their chances of winning more parliamentary seats, adding that CEDEP is collaborating with all political parties which have fielded female and PWD parliamentary candidates in the Ashanti Region.**