The Northern Sector Action on Awareness Centre (NORSAAC), has organised a day’s multi stakeholder forum in Tamale, with the aim to influence election and appointment of women in the Northern Region.

The forum, attended by selected women candidates in September 1, 20 District Assembly Elections, representatives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), civil society organisations, discussed ways to increase women’s representation at the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) in the region.

This became necessary in view of the fact that the region has the least representation of women in district assemblies with just four elected assembly women in 2002, which was a drop from 14.

In the elections, two districts in the region have no woman as a candidate, six others have just one woman each and a total of 71 women are contesting, which has dropped from 93 in June.

Mr Alhassan Mohammed Awal, Executive Director of NORSAAC, a Tamale-based non-governmental organisation working to empower women and young people, who spoke at the forum challenged government and political parties to address the worrying trend of low representation of women at the MMDAs.

Mr Awal said the low representation of women at means that critical segments of the society are deliberately left out in the decentralisation process adding: “It is sad to hear that we have never in the history of our district level elections recorded more than 10.1 per cent of elected women.

He, therefore, urged the ruling National Democratic Congress, which was invited but failed to send a representative, to commit to its manifesto pledge of working towards having more women in decision process..

Mr Mohammed Abdul Kudus, Regional Director of Communications of the NPP emphasised the need to take district level elections seriously since the MMDAs are the implementers of major development programmes in the country.

Mr Kudus expressed the need for political parties to join efforts to encourage and educate women to participate in the district level elections.

Alhaji Abdul Razak Saani, Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education said more donor funding would be secured for accelerated development if women were adequately represented at the MMDAs.

Alhaji Saani, therefore, urged political parties to come out with an affirmative action that would allow women to contest elections at their (political parties) strong holds without being challenged by their male counterparts.

Madam Mahama Sabratu, a candidate at the Nayirifong Electoral Area in the West Mamprusi District urged women to rally behind female candidates and vote for them to enable them to win the elections.