Jema, (BE/R), Feb. 25, GNA – Nana Ama Amobeah, the Queen Mother of Jema Traditional Area in the Kintampo South District, has appealed for improved water systems to prevent the outbreak of water borne diseases in the area.
She said more mechanised boreholes would enable the people to access potable drinking water and address the perennial acute water shortage in the area.
Nana Amobeah made the appeal at the inauguration of the ‘Women Caucus for Responsive and Inclusive Governance’ (WOCA4RIG) at Jema, the capital of the Kintampo South District in the Bono East Region.
She said the poor sanitation situation in the area also required urgent attention and asked the District Assembly to prioritise and invest in waste management to guarantee the general well-being, of particularly women and children.
The Centre for Migration and Africa Development (CEMAD), a non-governmental organization, inaugurated the WOCA4RIG, as part of a project it is implementing in the district.
Plan International Ghana and Global Affairs Canada under its Women’s Voice and Leadership (WVL) are assisting the local NGO to implement the six-month project aimed at empowering women to actively engage in decision-making processes of the Assembly.
The project would further empower the women to demand accountability from duty-bearers and subsequently position them well to contribute significantly for enhanced decentralisation and local government in the district.
Highlighting on the project, Mr. Isaac Kwabena Appiah, the Project Coordinator of CEMAD, said women played a key role in the development process, hence the need to empower them to appreciate their roles and responsibilities in society.
He thanked the sponsors of the project which would also push the District Assembly to engage market women in fee fixing resolutions.
Mr. Appiah said last year the project signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the District Assembly aimed at ensuring that women were not left out in the decision-making process of the Assembly.
He said extensive engagement of women in the Assembly’s fee fixing resolutions would encourage the market women to pay their taxes and rates and help the Assembly to mobilise adequate resources to bring the development of the district to the next level.
“When market women are engaged in fee fixing resolutions, they would understand the need to pay tax which would greatly benefit the Assembly in the long-term”, Mr. Appiah added, and advised women in the district to develop interest and participate in the decision-making process of the District Assembly.
GNA