Minister of Women Affairs, Iyom Josephine Anenih, explained to CHUKWUMA MUANYA and CHUKS COLLINS in Awka, Anambra State why more women are voting in the 2011 elections and how her Ministry is looking forward to more women in 2015. Excerpts:HOW do you see the participation of women in politics especially in this years electionsWhen I talk about women participation in politics I do not limit it to just electoral contests. For me, participation starts from when you attend party rallies, register to vote and when you come out to vote. And of course, the climax is when you offer yourself for electoral contest. And even when you offer yourself for a political appointment, it is also participation in politics. And if we understand my definition of women participation in politics, then we will understand when I say that women participation in politics has never been as high as we have experienced in 2011. This is mainly due to the awareness that was created by various societies and especially the Women For Change Initiative that was driven by the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. And we have seen that for the first time in our history, wives of politicians have come out to campaign and lead their own rallies, and run their own campaign. It has never as strong as it is this election. That will tell us the level of conscientisation that we have achieved as far as political participation is concerned among our women. And on this, I will say we have done marvelously well.But in the area of getting elected, the women folk have not done as well as well as expected. This is essentially because of lack of internal democracy in most of our political parties. Before you can contest in the elections you must have scaled through the party primaries. During the party primaries, the number of women who scaled through was very low compared to the number of women who aspired. We had many aspirants during the primaries but very few of them finally emerged as candidates. That is where we still have a great hurdle to cross and we will be working on that. What we have done is to re-strategise, and we have seen areas we will concentrate more on.On May 29, we are going to commence preparations for the 2015 elections, and our attention will be on the political parties. We need also to train the political parties, educate them, get them to imbibe the spirit of internal democracy because that is where it all starts. We need to get people to understand that when we talk about women participation, it is not just a gender thing because women participation is to enhance development. It is at the heart of the development and that is where we are going to focus our advocacy and our education of the parties.The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is facing a stiff contest in Anambra State from the other parties like the ruling All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)That is not quite true. It is situation sold to a lot of people because of the carry over of an internal war within the PDP and we all know how that happened. Then people started thinking that PDP has lost grounds in Anambra. It is not possible for PDP to lose ground in Anambra because people know that Anambra is a PDP state. It is just the lack of internal democracy within the party that has caused some problems for the party. There are few people looking for alternative platforms to contest on, but their heart and soul is PDP.So what is the party doing to halt the drift and settle the internal crisisWe are trying to reconcile that and we are now talking to ourselves, working together. All that boils down to education. Political parties should train their candidates to understand that it is not all about them; it is not just about the individual, it is about the party, it is about developing ideologies for the party and about believing in something for the party. But in Nigeria, the main thing is that most people use political parties as a platform to grab political office. And for them, it is just about them not the party. That is why it is easy for some people to within three months be in three parties. Today, they are in PDP and when they lose in the primary or they feel they cannot win the primary, they jump to another party. And when they lose the primary there, they jump to any other available party. And when all fail, they want to jump back to PDP. These kinds of people are not party men or women. For them, politics is about winning an election because the law says you must run on a political platform. And or them, any political platform will do. They dont care about the party, all they want is to pursue their political ambition; it is just about them.In the past it is the people who keep the party alive, but now it is people that want the party to keep them alive. The values and principles are askew and we need to straighten them out. We have seen in most parties that many people have not paid their dues; they do not know where their party ward meets. When politicians grow their parties, pay their dues, get involved in meetings and discussions, their commitment will grow and it will be difficult for them to jump ship because they know they are indebted to the party. Political parties are not disposable tools to be used by politicians and thrown away. It does not augur well to have that kind of mentality for our democracy. Politicians should decide what they want to do and do it. It is because of the absence of this commitment that most of them will get elected and they will have nothing to show for it; they do not know their party manifesto or what their party has promised the electorate. And so, they cannot even deliver on the promises their parties have made.Does your ministry have any project to empower women so that they can compete in some selected fieldsEconomic empowerment of women does not need a Bill. It just needs women to wise up to the possibilities that are available to find where the money is like the men folk. I dont need to send any particular Bill or proposal to the National Assembly to push for any programme. It does not need a Bill for women to get oil blocs that the men are getting. It does not need a Bill for them to get big contracts that the men are getting. But we it is a male dominated society and in the money world there is a boys club there, so the boys talk to other boys and they tell one another where the opportunities are. But they have not started talking to the girls, just a few girls are getting in there. It is just for us to look at that area and start getting women interested. For instance, like the new gas revolution that is coming. It is an opportunity for many people to get involved in and women should also look at it and not think that it is the preserve of men. In agriculture, women should also see what is happening there. There are plenty of opportunities for them to get substantial contracts and things to do in that area. But most times it is also in our mentality to think it is for men alone, and when those opportunities come, the men share it among themselves. We should start looking at those areas.The Bill we are looking for is 35 per cent Affirmative Action because that will force political parties to make sure that on their list of candidates they have at least 35 per cent women for elective and appointive positions.How far have you gone with the BillWe almost got it in 2010 but we missed it by the whiskers, but we are not giving up. We will try again and I am sure we will get it. And the President has made it easier by making it a policy in council that every appointment in every committee, should have not less than 35 or 40 per cent women. That is now a government policy stated in the Federal Executive Council and it has been voted for. So with President Goodluck Jonathan, I am sure passing the 35 per cent Affirmative Action will be very easy. I am sure he will even lead it. If it cannot come from the National Assembly, he will send it as an Executive Bill. I am very optimistic that we are going to have it.
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