FCT Polls: Yiaga Africa harps on poor women inclusion
NEWS DIGEST – The Yiaga Africa, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), on Friday raised concerns over a possible low voter turnout and poor inclusion of women in the FCT area council election slated for Saturday 12th of February 2022.
Yiaga Africa who took its anti vote sensitization campaign to Kuje Area Council said its findings adopted a mixed method which included a long term observation for the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, desk reviews, and in-depth interviews with stakeholders including, civil society organizations, security agencies, the election management body, political parties, and citizens.
BoT member of Yiaga Africa, Barr Ezenwa Nwagwu, during a press briefing in Kuje Market said; “Due to little or no campaigning by political parties participating in the election, low voter mobilization and publicity, Yiaga Africa fears the possibility of low voter turnout on Saturday, February 12 for the LGA polls.
“More worrisome is the almost lack of awareness of the LGA election in the FCT. Observation also revealed the lack of impact from Local Governing Councils and issues around multiple taxations has also contributed to the disinterest amongst citizens.
Nwagwu said that the low number of female candidates at Saturday’s local council polls is likely to affect the representation of women in office.
“Women representation is abysmally low, with female candidacy at 8.87%. 4 political parties; Action Alliance (AA), All Progressives Congress (APC), Labour Party (LP), and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have no female candidates vying for seats in the 2022 FCT Area Council Elections.
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“There are only 3 female chairmanship candidates and 8 vice-chairmanship candidates while there are 39 female councillorship candidates. This indicates the likelihood of poor women representation in the Area Council Government.
“Among the political parties, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) with (39) has the highest number of youth candidates and the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) with (10) has the highest number of women candidates for the 2022 FCT Area Council Elections”, he said.
While speaking to some of the traders in Kuje market, they vented their displeasure over the incessant pattern of government not fulfilling their campaign promises.
Mamunah Idris a yam seller who spoke to our correspondent said “I am ready to vote tomorrow, but the problem is that when we cast our vote and they emerge they usually don’t fulfill their campaign promises.
“For instance in my area in Agwan Tiv, we lack water and the local government has not done anything about it despite lodging several complaints and appeals.
Yiaga Africa in its statement, however, urged INEC to be transparent and ensure early deployment of personnel and materials to polling units.
“INEC should ensure early deployment of its personnel and materials to polling units to enable early commencement of polls. In a bid to ensure transparency, INEC should publish the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) rate as it had initially promised to do before the elections.
“INEC election officials must ensure uniformity and consistency in the application of guidelines across all polling stations. They should provide explicit information on accreditation and voting procedure as well as the result collation process and announcement”, the statement reads.
