Tuesday, July 5, 2011

QUEEN MOTHERS UP NORTH RESOLVE TO CHAMPION DEVELOPMENT


IN AN ATTEMPT to complement government efforts at bridging the development gab between the North and the South, Queen mothers in the Northern Region have declared themselves fit towards drumming home the needed development -that has eluded the region over the years, and also serve as engines for reconciliation, peace and unity among the people up north.

The Queen Mother of the Bole Traditional Area, Kansawuriche Hajia Bukari is therefore challenging all queen mothers in the region to lead their communities in peace in order to attract more investors and also allow for the smooth implementation of the government’s development policies and programmes.

Addressing a two-day workshop in Tamale which brought together all queen mothers in the northern region to deliberate on good governance, poverty reduction and helping to achieve the millennium development goals 4 and 5 among others, the Kansawuriche urged her colleagues to be innovative in their roles as queen mothers and speak out against the rots in society.

According to the learned Queen, who is also the Northern Regional Chairperson of the Ghana Registered Midwives Association, queen mothers have a role to play in ensuring that, child and maternal mortality, rural urban migration, female genital mutilation, teenage pregnancy, forced marriage, child delinquency and among others, become a thing of the past.

She suggested ways which could help reduce child and maternal mortality rates in Northern Ghana . For instance, she asked queen mothers to lead women in their communities to cultivate farms through which proceeds from the sale of produce can be used to assist pregnant women who lack support during the time of delivery.

Kansawurche also proposed that, queen mothers should form partnerships with their local transport services so that they could be provided with a means of transport anytime a pregnant woman is in labour in order to reach the hospital on time to save the life of the baby and the mother.

On female education, she asked chiefs to institute a fine that would prevent parents from taking their wards out of school to assist them on farms or travel south of the country to engage in menial jobs.

The queen mother of Bole encouraged her colleagues to liaise with non-governmental organizations, community health volunteers, health personnel, and metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to embark on health education to prevent female genital mutilation, vaginal fistula, HIV/AIDS, violence, conflicts and among others.

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