Aminu Ibrahim
Nov 1, 20222 min
The Upper West Regional Youth Parliament has paid a working visit to the Wa East District Assembly as part of efforts to strengthen relations and collaborations for social development.
The visit was to enable the YP to discuss with the district authorities issues of development being undertaken by the YP through its research and subsequent interventions in the area.
The YP team, led by the Speaker of Parliament, Mr James Baba Anabiga visited the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Wa East, Dr Suleman Ewura Mahama Kandia at his office in Funsi on October 31, 2022.
The YP with funding support from Plan International earlier this year undertook research in the Wa East District on adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
The YP took the opportunity to announce to the DCE its partnership interventions with Could You?, a US- NGO and the Plan International Ghana, through the latter’s Youth Challenge Fund, to help ameliorate the situation as revealed by the research.
It said the Could You? partner was supporting with a tune of 1000 sanitary pads while the Plan International partnership intervention aimed at sensitising stakeholders on menstrual health and hygiene issues.
It further called for the support and commitment of district authorities and all stakeholders geared towards addressing the problems of adolescent reproductive health (ARH) in the district.
The YP also seized the moment to reiterate its non-partisan, non-political and non-tribal values, striving on advocacy, creating networks, empowering and undertaking development initiatives and interventions to positively impact society.
The DCE, on his part, lauded the Youth Parliament and agreed with the study findings as he cited poverty and feeling of hopelessness as push factors for girls’ engagement in sex life.
He welcomed the YP initiatives to provide vulnerable girls access to sanitary pads in the Wa East District while appealing to the YP to engage the vulnerable girls directly.
Dr Mahama Kandia admonished the YP to remain steadfast and devoid of open partisan political meddling saying that it should be cautious about sharing sensitive information with political activists.
He wholly welcomed the YP’s call for partnership and collaboration with his outfit to tackle the issues of ARH decisively as he said his outfit was working tirelessly to redeem the image of the Wa East District.
The delegation of the Youth Parliament comprised the Speaker, Mr Anabiga Baba James, the Second Deputy Speaker, Madam Rashidatu Gbolo, the Majority Leader, Mr Marizuk Sidik and the Chairman of the Research Committee, Mr Lukman Tahiru.