Youth Coalition for Consolidation for Democracy (YCD), a non-governmental organisation, says the electorate can make good decisions on who to vote for if they interact with their aspirants and understand what they will do for them if they are elected into power.
YCD Executive Director Francis Folley said this on Saturday at an interface that the organisation organised to let the electorate interact with aspirant Esmy Bande of Nsanje Central Constituency.
“We wanted to bring the aspirant closer to the voters so that they have a discussion and at the end the voters are able to know what the candidate has in her development agenda,” said Folley.
YCD who are 50-50 campaign agent say they want to emphasize to the community that there might be less development if women are sidelined in decision making positions.
“The meeting has contributed so much to achieving 50-50 campaign message dissemination as people including traditional leaders, churches and the community at large were eager to hear from a female aspirant and the feeling in general is that they now accept a woman has capacity to represent them,” said YCD director.
During the interface, the community presented problems such as lack of medical drugs, people being asked to pay money for them to access drugs in public hospitals and low honorarium of chiefs as some of the problems they encounter.
The community asked the 50-50 management campaign to help the shadow MP all the way to last day of closing of campaigning saying the road to elections needs material and financial support.
Responding to questions and comments, the shadow MP said she would endeavour not to disappoint since there are already structures of development that only need political will to be completed.
“I would like to thank YCD for organising this interface meeting and I assure the electorate that I will facilitate piped water development to enable women access water within their localities,” said Bande who is running under Democratic People’s Congress (DEPECO).
National Initiative for Civic Education Trust were involved to help in facilitation to help women understand that they are capable of taking leading positions and can deliver.
Bande is the first female aspirant to contest for a Member of Parliament position in the constituency since multiparty dispensation.
