Thursday, November 18, 2010

ASPIRING FEMALE ASSEMBLY MEMBERS ...Promise good leadership (PAGE 11, NOV 18, 2010)

MARGARET Amo Opoku aka Ebenezer who is contesting the Ayeduase Electoral Area seat in the Kumasi metropolis in the upcoming District Level Elections hopes to work assiduously towards changing the face of development of the area for the better.
She said the area lacked some basic amenities needed to make life comfortable for the people and promised to put things right when voted as an assembly member.
She mentioned some of the projects she would tackle as water,education and toilet facilities, among others, and also promised to provide facilities to make markets in the area vibrant to promote businesses.
“Even though there is a market in the electoral area it is not enough and I will work at getting another one built,” she told the Daily Graphic.
Ms Amo Opoku, 60, is a businesswoman and is a graduate of the Sunyani Girls Vocational Institute. She made reference to the essence of education to the progress of society, and said efforts would be made to tackle the challenges of education in the area if given the nod. She further said she would institute measures to assist school dropouts acquire skills training.
Ms Amo Opoku said because of the large student population in the area
as a result of the numerous hostels, there was the need to improve security.
The aspirant says he had lived in the metropolis for 16 years and knew the problems of the area very well. “I am, therefore, well-positioned to lead the people in the assembly.”
She emphasised that the people of the area loved her and this would be translated into hard work when she gets to the assembly.

A 39-year-old Revenue Collector, Ms Agartha Opoku, has expressed her desire to contest the district level elections in the Effiduase East Electoral Area with three men.
Speaking to Daily Graphic on her chances of winning the election, Ms Opoku, who graduated with a senior high school certificate in 1996, said her commitment to support development initiatives in the area over the years makes her a better candidate than her fellow contestants.
“ Everybody in the electoral area calls me “people’s mother”. This is because I have not only been supporting needy children but has also actively involved myself in many development initiatives, especially in the area of sanitation where I helped to repair the only public toilet in the area”.
Stressing, she said, “ when the only public toilet in the area broke down, I singlehandedly mobilised support from key personalities to rehabilitate it, and now, residents, including my opponents, have no problem visiting the toilet at any time”
“With these initiatives, I am certain that given the opportunity, even my opponents would vote for me” she teased.
She said apart from her efforts to rehabilitate the only public toilet, she was determined to support the construction of an additional one to reduce the inconvenience of queuing which has become the order of the day.
Ms Opoku also expressed concern about the problem of water for domestic and other uses, and assured to collaborate with stakeholders to construct a borehole for the community.
Explaining, she said, the Effiduase East Electoral Area has only one borehole that serves them, a situation, which she said, made it impossible for residents to get sufficient water supply.
She said since she identified the problem, she has made the needed efforts to construct an additional one, and, therefore, appealed to the electorate to support her to enable her to implement her programmes to ease the acute water problem affecting them.
“ I will also organise the youth for us to undertake communal labour to support the development of projects in the electoral area to accelerate socio-economic development, she assured, stressing, “as the people’s mother, I have endeared myself to the people so much that mobilising the youth to actively support development projects would not be a difficult task”.
Expressing concern about the problem of school dropouts among the youth, she said, she was determined to collaborate with opinion leaders in the community to support brilliant needy school children who had dropped out from school to get back into the classrooms.
“ I want them back in the classroom for them to build their capacity because they may have something to offer the community in particular and the country in general if they nurture their talents more meaningfully”, she said.
She said when elected, she would also liaise with teachers in the community to encourage students to focus on their academic programmes.
This, she said, would make the students get better grades to enter tertiary institutions to acquire employable skills.

A 50-year-old woman contesting the district assembly election in the Nyankyenease-Apatrapa Electoral Area against four male candidates has indicated her resolve to win the election to enable her collaborate with the opinion leaders in the community to initiate projects that will impact positively on the lives of residents.
“I moved into the area barely two years ago, but I have already made an impact by initiating projects that have endeared me to the residents” declared Madam Akua Afriyie Amanfo.
Stressing, she said “I was born into leadership position and as a gender advocate, I have the edge over my contestants, so they should offer me their unflinching support”.
She expressed concern about the bad state of roads, as well as the deplorable sanitation conditions and inadequate security and lighting system in the area, and pointed out that the poor road network in the area was preventing commercial vehicles from transporting passengers to and from the Central Business District in Kumasi.
This, she said, was undermining the effective operation of their businesses and gave the assurance to collaborate with the Department of Urban Roads of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) to rehabilitate the road network.
She also expressed concern about the absence of lamp posts along the major streets in the area, saying “ it undermines security.”
Madam Amanfo said as part of the measures for checking the activities of criminals in the area, she had already organised the youth in the community to form voluntary gangs to enhance security.
She also said she would make malaria control part of her agenda, adding that “the assembly need to develop the drainage system in Kumasi very well to enhance sanitation and reduce the breeding of mosquitoes.”
“ I am very sure of winning the election. Notwithstanding the fact that I am a woman, I am the strongest among all the candidates, in terms of mobilising the youth to undertake development programmes and also lobbying for facilities that would enhance development, so I stand a better chance of winning hands down to support the development of the electoral area”.

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