Mrs Georgina Asante, the Gender, Family and Social Intervention Coordinator of the Sunyani Methodist Diocese has urged women to lead the crusade for a violent-free and peaceful Election 2024.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, Mrs Asante observed women and children as well as minority groups bear the brunt of political violence and instability.
Hence the need for women to remain at the forefront, championing the crusade against political tendencies that could trigger election violence and disturb the prevailing peace of the nation.
Highlighting the role of women in facilitating a peaceful general election, Mrs Asante said women had the inherent traits and physical capacities and abilities to manage stress, and control tempers.
They must therefore be in the position to support and to “heal” their stressful husbands, who were into active partisan politics and drum-home the message and relevance of peace and social cohesion.
“When there is peace and harmony in the home, it transcends to the society as well,” she said and entreated women to avoid behaviour that could “frustrate” their husbands too.
Women, Mrs Asante indicated, had unique and gifted characteristics, which they ought to demonstrate in the electioneering towards promoting tolerance as well as respect for divergent views and opinions in the political space.
They must also take the responsibility to advise their husbands and children to stay clear of hate-speeches, insults and inflammatory statements that could infuriate their political opponents too.
Mrs Asante said elections were not a warfare or a “do and die” affair, but an opportunity to allow the electorate to make informed decisions on their choice of government leadership and therefore urged politicians, political parties, and their followers to remain decorous in their political campaigns.
She said the electioneering must be conducted in a more decorous manner to facilitate a peaceful Election 2024 and safeguard and consolidate the gains of fledgling democracy.
