Madi
Jobarteh, the country representative for Westminster Foundation for Democracy
(WMD), said the quality of the country’s democracy will ultimately rest on how
much everybody is involved in the decisions about resource allocation, service
delivery, provisions of good facilities and overall, in the protection of the
rights of everyone.
Mr.
Jobarteh, who is also a human rights defender, was speaking on Friday during a
two-day advocacy seminar for National Assembly Members on Inclusion,
Participation and Representation of Women, Youth and People with Disabilities.
The
seminar which brought together NAMS and civil society groups was held at the
NaNA conference center in Bakau.
The
seminar is meant to bring lawmakers around the issues of inclusion,
participation and representation of youth, women and disability with the wider
objective of enhancing the political space to strengthen democracy and good
governance.
He further said that democracy is not only the
voice of the majority but it is also qualitative and to be of value, rests
heavily on how inclusive it is.
“Many
people said that democracy is the voice of the majority but it is also to be
qualitative and be of value to rest heavily on how inclusive it is, which is
how much of every member in the society involved in terms of voice expressing
themselves, in terms of participation and also in terms of representation,” Mr.
Jobarteh said.
For
her part, Rohie Bittaye-Darboe, permanent secretary, Ministry of Women,
Children and Social Welfare said that the participation of women, youth and
people with disabilities in politics is an important milestone in the
attainment of equality and national development.
She
added that political participation includes a broad range of activities through
which people develop and express their opinions on issues of governance and try
to take part in and shape decision that affect their lives.
“Data
on political participation of women with disabilities is scarce but according
to the UN flagship report on disability and development, the limited
availability data shows an extremely low participation and representation of
women with disability in political leadership roles,” she lamented
Hon.
Kebba Barrow, majority leader and National Assembly Member (NAM) for Kombo
North Constituency, said this seminar was very timely as they were preparing for
the legislation for the new constitution, noting that these three sectors are
key to ensuring that the administration of the country works towards the
democratisation processes in the country.
“Involving
the young people, women and people with disability in the process of the
country will help greatly in the development of the country,” he argued.
He
thanked the Westminster Foundation for Democracy for organising the programme
which he opined will help in the smooth running of the democratisation process
in the country.
