Sub Saharan Africa

Kenya's rights activists are furious that the country's highest court "violated" women's constitutional rights by ruling against the implementation of a gender quota in parliament ahead of the 2013 general elections.

Activists here are threatening to boycott the Mar. 4, 2013 elections and bring the government to a standstill unless the gender parity law, which states that no more than two-thirds of one gender should hold elected office, is enforced in the senate and national assembly in the upcoming elections.

Mrs Adekemi Ndieli, National Programme Officer, UNDP (UN Women), has challenged the political parties in Nigeria to be more affirmative in supporting women to win elective positions through concerted efforts.

Ndieli told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday that women should be made to be more relevant in the political scheme of things.

According to her, the usual belief that women are to be seen and not to be heard should be jettison.

Prior to their official inauguration slated for tomorrow Friday 7th December 2012, three newly elected and endorsed Members of Parliament, Hon. Mabinty Funna of Constituency 65 Tonkolili District, Hon. Mabinty Kadijah Sillah of Constituency 28 Bombali District and Hon.

ZANU PF Goromonzi West MP and chairperson of the Regional Women’s Parliamentary Caucus Beatrice Nyamupinga has accused the police and the Judiciary of paying lip service to issues relating to gender-based violence.

An eight-member group of the West Africa Women's Election Observation (WAWEO), led by Nobel Laureate Leyman Gbowee of Liberia, has arrived in the country to observe the 2012 general elections.

The team, consists of eminent women who are experts in governance, and also women advocates from the West African region, including Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Nigeria and Cote d' Ivoire.

ZANU PF says it will fashion its campaign for the 2013 general elections along demographic lines, hoping to curry favor with such population clusters as the youths, women and people with special interests.

Wrapping its annual conference in Gweru Saturday, the party resolved to pull out all the stops to deliver a “decisive victory” demanded by President Robert Mugabe, who will seek reelection against his bitter rival, MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

he anxiety and uncertainty surrounding women's abilities to win Parliamentary seats have been laid to rest as 28 women from nine regions have reached office so far in Ghana's hotly contested 2012 elections.

The Commonwealth Observer Group has expressed concern about the low number of women contesting this year's general election in Ghana.

The group is in the country at the invitation of the Electoral Commission to observe Ghana's 6th elections since returning to constitutional rule for the fourth time in 1992.

One Hundred and thirty three women are running in 27 out of the 275 constituencies in Ghana’s Parliamentary race this year. This number is relatively small compared to their male counterparts who number up to one thousand three hundred and thirty two. But to some observers and gender advocates, this number, as low as it appears, represents a 30 percent improvement on previous figures.