By Felix Katemula

Karonga, September 5, Mana: National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) Trust has urged political parties to put women in senior political party positions if the country was to develop.

Civic Education Programme Officer for NICE Trust, Derex Souza made the views on Wesdnesday in Karonga during the opening ceremony of a three day “Campaign School Training” for women aspirants in Karonga.

“Women face so many barriers within political parties to attain a position and to be voted for during elections, this is why we thought of giving them capacity and skills to navigate through political scenarios during campaign and how to manage communication and public speaking,” he noted.

Souza observed that women are not given platforms in political parties which has resulted in more women standing as independent candidates in elections.

“The skills which they will acquire will make them have better chances to overcome the difficulties they find within the political parties,” he explained.

An Aspiring Councillor for Nkhwawa Ward, Tamala Mhango said that the training would help them to have confidence in themselves during the forthcoming elections.

“Male candidates have financial muscle while we female candidates lack financial support and this makes us to fail to campaign properly,” she said.

Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) District Elections Officer for Karonga, Elias Nyirenda said MEC works within the legal framework of the country’s constitution which promotes women participation and it has deliberate policies to ensure women participate in politics.

“Usually the commission will lower the nomination fees for women and youth so as to have as many women as possible to leverage the playing field,” he said.

The training is being co-implemented by Nation Intiative for Civic Education (NICE) and the Centre for Civil Society Strengthning (CCSS) under the project “Transformative Political Empowerment” with funding from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).