A former Presiding Member of the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly Madam Agnes Atayila, has announced her intention to contest the up-coming assembly election in the Soe-Yipala Electoral Area.
The aspirant, who is a nutrition officer, was first elected assemblywoman for the electoral area in the Bolgatanga Municipality in 2000-2006, and elected the Presiding Member of the assembly from 2004 to 2006.
From 2005-2006, she was the Regional Representative for the Upper East Region at the National Executive Council of the National Association of Local Authority, Ghana (NALAG).
Speaking to the Daily Graphic at Bolgatanga, Madam Atayila said her decision to seek re-election to the assembly was due to her desire to serve her people, especially the unfortunate illiterate women who look up to her for inspiration.
“I believe I have an unfinished agenda in terms of development for my community and I am seeking to re-enter the assembly to work for the interest of my people”, she said.
“As I speak to you today, I am no more an assemblywoman for the area, but I still attend to the needs of my electorate who call on me at home on a daily basis. They still see in me a leader who is always available to hear their concerns. That is my motivation for seeking re-election to lead my people”, she added.
Outlining her vision, Madam Atayila said if given the nod she would engage the youth and women in her electoral area in regular meetings to strategise and map out the development needs of the community.
Her major concern, however, is what she terms “attempts by political parties to thwart efforts of women contestants” by playing out the partisan cards during the election and appealed to political parties to desist from turning the district level elections into a platform for partisan politics.
Madam Atayila is currently the chairperson of the Upper East Regional Cultural Advisory Committee of the Centre for National Culture. In 1999, she was elected the Chairperson of the Board of Governors to the Bolgatanga Girls Secondary School.
She has special skills in community mobilisation, organising trainer of trainers programmes, counselling and inter personal communication, gender and development and rears livestock. In 1997, she was adjudged the Bolgatanga Best District Livestock Farmer.
Among other things, she has facilitated the formation of 126 women support groups in Builsa, Bolgatanga, Bongo and Talensi/Nabdam districts. She also acquired four grinding mills from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for women in the Builsa District to enhance their income generation activities.
She was a District Programme Officer for the World Food Programme (WFP) activities for supplementary feeding for children under 5 years and Breast Feeding Mothers whilst serving in the Bongo District Health Directorate. She was also the focal person for the Catholic Relief Service Food for Survival in the same Bongo District.
Ms Theresa Akosua Serwaah Tettey, a 39-year-old language teacher at the Anfoega Senior High School in the Kpando District, intends to contest the district assembly elections in the Dzigbe-Torkor Electoral Area in the Kpando District. She is optimistic of defeating the incumbent assemblyman for the area.
According to her she has demonstrated her competence and capabilities over the years which had made her a better candidate to be elected as their next representative in the assembly.
She said if given the nod, she would lobby for support to improve sanitation and facilities such as places of convenience and potable water for the community, under the Community Water and Sanitation Programme .
She said since women constituted more than 50 per cent of the country’s population, there was the need to increase their representation at the various levels of the decision-making process to enable them to make meaningful contribution to national development.
She said if given the nod, she would make meaningful contributions to discussions during assembly sittings to help design positive projects and programmes to benefit the community and society as a whole.
Madam Agnes Akusika Mireku is a 59-year-old businesswoman who intends to contest the district assembly elections in the Agudzi-Bame Electoral Area in the Kpando District of the Volta Region. She said her desire was to tackle the challenges facing the area in respect of youth unemployment, adding that with the help of non-governmental organisations and the Department of Women, she would assist the youth to explore opportunities to open up employment avenues for them to make them productive.
She said she would help women to access small loan facilities to undertake development projects and indicated that she would also lobby for a borehole to be drilled to facilitate the cultivation of okro and garden eggs to generate income to bring development to the area.
She also said she would dialogue with teachers and communicate their problems to the appropriate quarters and encourage teachers and pupils to take education seriously.
The aspirant for the Nkonya -Wurupong Electoral Area in the Biakoye District, Madam Florence Leticia Mensah, is a 53 -year old businesswoman. Her aim is to contest the assembly elections to promote the interest of the people.
She said her area of concern was to improve on sanitation facilities in the community with the provision of public places of convenience, check the negative behaviour of some people who ease themselves on “free range” which posed a health hazard to the people.
She said if given the nod, she would collaborate with relevant organisations and individuals to rehabilitate school buildings in the electoral area and also improve on conditions at the local market to boost business activities.
Madam Mensah said she was also concerned about the bad nature of the road linking Tornu and would help extend electricity to more communities in the area, stressing that with the support of the assembly, members of the community and other organisations, she would find workable solutions to these problems.
The aspirant also indicated her intention to mount intensive public education campaign to encourage the youth to desist from social vices, some of which resulted in teenage pregnancy, child labour and truancy.
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