BREWERVILLE, Montserrado – Liberia’s 103 legislative seats are occupied by only 12 women, which means only 11.7 percent of lawmakers are women – a figure that’s staggering in a country that celebrates electing Africa’s first female president.

Recently in Brewerville, a one-day citizens’ engagement forum brought together female voters and female representative aspirants in an attempt to change those statistics.

The event was organized by a group of female politicians, under the umbrella of the Coalition of Political Parties Women in Liberia, also known as COPWIL, and sponsored by UNMIL through the National Youth Movement for Transparent Elections, or NAYMOTE.

A number of female representative aspirants were in attendance. They included representative aspirants from the Coalition for Democratic Change who were contesting in Montserrado’s fourth and ninth districts: Nuwoe Scott and Grace Bermah Yates, respectively.

Two contestants who aimed to represent Montserrado’s 16^th legislative districts – the Alternative National Congress’ Gladys Walker and the Movement for Economic Empowerment’s Patricia Delaney – were also present.

Nuwoe A.D. Scott. Photo: Gbatemah Senah

Speaking at the event on Friday, the female voters from Montserrado challenged the women aspirants to be more people-centered and sensitive to the plights of their fellow women.

According to comments made by many of the women, women most times do not vote their fellow women into political offices because according to them, female politicians in power often make themselves too indispensable to those they are leading.

“When women get power, they do not know their fellow women,” said Musu Cooper, a resident of St. Paul Bridge Community.

Robetta Robert, another woman said, the generous nature of men makes them favorable by women over their fellow women.

“When you are elected, also remember to always come back to hold consultations with your people on issues being debated,” Felecia Manning, another female electorate of District #16, suggested.

Manning said the problem of most officials is their refusal to consult their constituents before taking decisions on their behalf.

However, while the women framed the issue of the lack of accountability of lawmakers as a female issue, Liberian lawmakers in general (men and women) are viewed by their constituents as corrupt and concern only with their own interests. In 2014, such frustration toward lawmakers resulted in only two out of the 15 incumbent senators being reelected during the special senatorial election.

Among other things, the community women called on their aspirants to help address the growing rate of drug addiction among young people, low salaries and incentives for teachers, and low access to water, proper sanitation, and hygiene facilities.

Annie Kanuwah, another resident of Montserrado’s 15^th district, said it was unfortunate that a huge percentage of teenagers in the area are becoming addicted to illegal drugs.

Meanwhile, the Chair of Montserrado’s 17^th district’s women, Lucinda Zarlee, has recommended to the aspirants to facilitate the construction of rehabilitation centers for street and disintegrated youths when elected in October.

NAYMOTE’s executive director, Eddie Jarwolo, said his organization has a project to ensure that more qualified and experienced women are elected to the legislature.

NAYMOTE’S Executive Director, Eddie Jarwolo. Photo: Gbatemah Senah

Jarwolo said while NAYMOTE supports a proposed affirmative action bill – a bill that would reserve five legislative seats for women – it believes that the action must be buttressed by empowerment that would give women the political and organization skills to engage citizens to vote for them.

“We did a week-long training for female aspirants in campaign planning, leadership development, message development and public speaking,” he said. “The second phase is this citizens’ engagement.”

He said Friday’s forum was the second of four separate engagements across Montserrado, with plans to extend to other parts of the country.

Nuwoe Scott, the representative aspirant who also serves as COPWIL’s vice president for political education, training, and advocacy, said the organization would ensure that more women are elected in the legislature, beginning with the pending October elections.

With more women in the legislature, Scott said, problems affecting social service deliveries, especially issues affecting women and children, would be addressed.

Featured photo by Gbatemah Senah