As the March 2018 presidential and parliamentary elections draw closer, one of the female flagbearer aspirants for the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC), Hon. Rev. Marie Yansaneh, has told Concord Times in an exclusive interview that, women were always sidelined by political parties in the award of party symbols.
The erstwhile Member of Parliament (MP) for Constituency 38 in the Sella Limba Chiefdom, Bombali district, northern Sierra Leone, said despite the sidelining of women in the award of party symbols, it was now incumbent on all eligible women to take a bold step in aspiring for political positions in the March 7, 2018 elections.
Hon. Rev. Marie Yansaneh, who recently declared her intention for the flagbearer position of the APC, said she has made it known to President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma and her party that she wanted to succeed him in the 2018 Presidential election.
“In the forthcoming elections, women should not only be seen as coordinators of rallies but vying for top elective positions,” she urged.
The Veteran Journalist cum politician disclosed that the percentage of women in the 2015 Housing and Population Census superseded that of men, but that women were not adequately represented in decision making.
She called on all women folks to join hands and commit to support their colleagues that would take up the challenges to aspire for top leadership and other elective positions.
“I will use my experience and knowledge as a former MP to address the needs of Sierra Leoneans especially women and children,” she said.
The former president of the Sierra Leone Parliamentary Female Caucus and founding member of 50/50 group, pleaded with women to advocate for leadership positions, with a single voice in the coming March 7, 2018 multitier elections.
Hon. Yansaneh was the founder and director of the Christian Faith Rescue Orphanage and first female photographer at the now defunct Government Information Service.