The Executive Director of the Women Training and Development Organization Program (WOTAP) in Western Bahr el Ghazal State has denounced the recent replacement of the former governor, Sarah Cleto Rial, by a man, saying it is a slap in the face of women’s participation leadership.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Monday, Linda Ferdinand Hussein said the appointment of a male governor to succeed a female is a violation of the 35 percent affirmative action for women 2018 revitalized peace agreement.
“This is a violation of the revitalized peace agreement because it was stipulated in the agreement that in each state, there should be observation of 35 percent of positions for women participation,” she said. “We have 10 states and 3 administrative areas and the only female governor was here, they removed her and instead of appointing another female, they chose a male and this automatically is a violation.”
Hussein added: “If our request could be taken into consideration, they are supposed to appoint a female deputy governor like we have seen in Warrap State where the governor is a male and the deputy is female.”
She said the women in the state are not against the recent changes but want to see their rights respected and implemented.
“We are not against the changes but we expected that a woman would be appointed instead of a man because we have capable women who can take charge as governors,” Hussein stated. “We now expect to see many women in the new cabinet that is yet to be formed. We want to see women holding positions of ministers, commissioners, and in administration and other leadership positions.”
According to the activist, during the leadership of former governor Sarah Cleto, a good number of women were appointed to the state leadership.
“As women, when she (Cleto) was appointed, we were represented at different levels although it was not complete,” she said. “During Sarah’s leadership, we had a female director general and other women in different institutions and this was not from nowhere.”