Democracy activists meet in Kenya

As Kenyans are struggling to overcome the bloody violence that has gripped the East African nation over a December 27, 2007 disputed presidential election, a group of women is meeting in the country’s coastal town of Mombasa over democratic practices. The women from the Eastern African sub-region are training on democracy in a two-week workshop organised by the African Women’s Leadership Institute, (AWLI). AWLI is a flagship programme of Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA) a pan-African development organisation for African women with a head office in Kampala, Uganda, and a regional office in London, United Kingdom. The Executive Director of AMwA, Solome Nakaweesi Kimbugwe, emphasised the need to have democratic governance in the Eastern Africa sub-region, imploring women and men in the region to embrace democratic dispensation for restoration of women’s rights. The training has brought together female representatives from Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Tanzania. Kimbugwe said that the theme for the seminar was timely especially with the inherent challenges of quantity and quality of leadership, inclusion, affirmative action co-option; electoral systems, and consolidating the gains so far registered. The Vice President of AMwA, Amanda Khozi Mukwashi said: “The events that have unfolded in Kenya since the recent elections are an indication of a deeper struggle for democracy and democratic values on the continent.” “We are grappling with the process of internalising democracy as well as the processes, structures and systems that support this concept,” Mukwashi added.The training which started on February 4 is scheduled to end February 16. Ends

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Democracy activists meet in Kenya