Women Aspirants Demand To Meet 50:50 Campaign Agency donors

53 women aspirants in Mangochi district have demanded to meet the 50:50 Campaign Management Agency donors-Icelandic International Development Agency ICEIDA over inadequate funding.

Speaking during the interaction organized for parliament and ward councilor aspirants Victoria Kingston lamented that the campaign has left out some crucial things that a woman needs to win positions in 2019 tripartite elections.

Speaking during the interaction Kingston said they are surprised to be told that 50:50 Campaign Management Agency will not pay their nomination fees and print T-shirts as it did in 2014.

She said “it is a big blow to the female aspirants since they were expecting that the Agency will pay the nomination fees for them because they have financial challenges.”

Kingston blamed the agency for not conducting enough research for the female aspirants to win positions in next year’s polls.

She called for lawyers who can assist women when they are victims of violence during elections.

Reacting to the concerns 50:50 Campaign Management Agency monitoring and evaluation officer Chawezi Tembo said the worry by women aspirants are genuine considering their economic standing saying he would take their concerns to their donors.

“The agency has over 1000 people it is helping therefore it is impossible to assist all of them with monetary and campaign materials,” Tembo said

However, Tembo said they are thinking of ways to raise funds in order to support the women.
The agency received 37 million kwacha from ICEIDA to support women aspirants in Mangochi district.

There are only two female legislators out of 12 constituencies and one ward councilor out of 34 wards in the district.