- CDC Women League begins Community Engagement for 2023 Elections
By Jerromie Walters & Dearest Sammie
The Women’s League Chairlady of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), Madam Fatu Swaray, has vowed that the women will effectively campaign through major engagements with their fellow women all over the country to ensure that President Weah is reelected on the first round of election in 2023. She has given her word that the women will be committed to the president’s reelection and has assured the president of their commitment.
According to the chairlady, they have begun community engagement and a process of reconciliation. She stated that reconciliation was critical to her leadership, emphasizing the importance of having everyone on board for President Weah’s second term victory.
In response to Womenvoices’ recent report that the CDC failed to meet the gender quotas in the party’s leadership, she stated that the CDC Women League chairperson and secretary are members of the party’s executive committee, which she claims increased the presence of women on the executive committee to 31%.
Madame Swaray said that though her party did not reach the 40% gender equity standard they had envisaged, she is pleased with the 31% of women who are involved in the CDC’s work, but she is in favor of increasing the number of women who are involved in the CDC’s leadership as well as in the national government in general.
“We have 31% of Women in the Executive Committee of the Party, but we wanted 40%; however, we are hoping that this number will increase not only in the party but also in the national government”, she said.
During an interview held on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, with a reporter from Women Voices, Madam Fatu Swaray stated that women in Liberia are powerful decision-makers and that President Weah’s second term depends heavily on them. She stated that, as a result of this, they will do everything in their power to assist him in winning re-election.
She stated that she would utilize her power to lobby in order to engage voters in the process of ensuring that the president’s bid for the presidency over the next six years is successful.
“Even though we have everything that is necessary to guarantee the president’s reelection, we are not going to let that make us complacent.” She stated that in order to ensure that the president is reelected in 2023, “we are going to effectively campaign through major engagements with our fellow women across the country.”
However, the leader of the Women’s League, which is part of the ruling establishment, encouraged Liberians who might not have benefited from the president’s first six years in office to keep hoping for a new day in his next six years because she believes that they will be a priority when he is re-elected.
“I can assure you that when he is re-elected, he will surely reach you, and that is why since we took over, we have been visiting the various districts across Montserrado County to have a total database of our women, because if we don’t have it, it will be challenging to reach out to everyone,” she maintained.
It is anticipated that the database collection will be extended to other counties after Montserrado and Lofa Counties. She said women will be prioritized within the CDC system, and as a result, they will benefit from every initiative that the party will undertake.
At the same time, Madam Fatu Swaray emphasized the new leadership interest, particularly in empowering and investing in women who are interested in business and agriculture.
She stated that once they are done collecting the necessary data, women all over the country will have a great deal of new opportunities to pursue.
She described the process of obtaining her new job as being extremely difficult and went on to talk about it. She also stated that she was dedicated to ensuring that women holding high-ranking positions within the party and did a good job in the positions that they serve-in.
She made it clear that she wanted dissatisfied CDC supporters to put aside their discontent with the party and work alongside her and the other supporters to ensure President Weah’s re-election in 2023.
It is anticipated that on December 19, 2022, a large number of female supporters of the CDC will gather at the party’s headquarters in Congo Town in order to formally welcome the president back to the nation.
At the 7th National Congress of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), which took place a month ago, Madam Fatu Swaray was elected as a leader, along with a number of other candidates.
