NDC Women Angry...

NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC Congress (NDC) women at Esaamu, a town in the Mampong municipality in the Ashanti region, on Monday expressed disgust at their exclusion in the school feeding programme. According to reports, the aggrieved women, clad in red and black attires, protested vehemently against the decision by the municipal assembly to award the school feeding programme contract to Mampong natives only. Information available to Daily Guide indicates that since the assumption of the Mills administration, the municipal assembly under, the headship of Daniel Ohyeaman, has been giving the contract to residents of Mampong alone. Yaa Boatemaa, women�s organizer of the party and leader of the embittered women, in a telephone interview with the paper described the situation as unfortunate. This, according to her, was because women in the other towns also contributed their quota towards the party�s electoral victory in the 2008 elections. She did not understand why the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) was only giving the contracts to women of Mampong and neglecting others in other towns. Madam Boatemaaa said what necessitated their action was the fact that the newly-introduced school feeding programme in their town had also been awarded on contract to natives of Mampong. �We thought that we have not been considered for the programme yet because the programme has not been introduced to our town, but now that we have the programme, the contract has been given to foreigners,� she stated. She indicated that they decided to express their anger about the situation because they would not sit unconcerned whilst women from other towns were awarded contracts to prepare meals for their children. �We will not allow anybody to come from outside and cook for our children. We all suffered to bring the party to power, therefore, we all need to reap the benefits of power,� Madam Boatemaa angrily stated. She pointed out that the women would continue to prevent any person or group of persons from outside Mampong from cooking for the school kids until women in the town were also considered for the contract. To press home their demand, Daily Guide gathered that the infuriated women stormed the selected schools for the feeding programme, in the course of their protest, and prevented the caterers from discharging their duties. The MCE for the area, when contacted, expressed surprise at the behavior of the women, explaining that the school feeding programme contract was not awarded to just any woman but caterers. Mr Ohyeaman noted that the assembly awarded the contract and not him and that the assembly allowed caterers in the municipality to bid, after which the most competent one was chosen. He said to ensure that the local women benefitted from the programme, he always ordered the contractors to recruit women from their operational areas, including Esaamu. The MCE accused supporters of his opponent in the party�s parliamentary primaries in the municipality of deliberately inciting the women against him so as to dim his chances. According to him, he had information about this plot two weeks ago, adding that he would not be surprised if attempts to cause public disaffection for him reared their head in the coming days. Mr. Ohyeaman, and Nana Acheampong, national coordinator of the National Mosquito Spraying exercise, are the only members of the party who filed their nomination to contest the party�s upcoming parliamentary primaries in the constituency.