Enforcement body to be strict on parties

The National Enforcement Body of the Political Parties Code of Conduct 2008 has said it will not hesitate to report any political party that indulged in criminal activity during the just-ended voters registration exercise to the security agencies.
Consequently, it has directed all regional enforcement bodies to investigate complaints and breaches of the code, especially violence and registration of minors and submit their report to the national body for immediate action.
Rev Dr Fred Deegbe, General Secretary of the Council and the chairman of the national body, told the Daily Graphic after he had presented the observation made by the observer teams from the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) during the registration exercise in Accra on Thursday.
The bodies are to monitor compliance with and enforce the provisions of the code, which was put together by the political parties with the support of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).
The code was put together by the political parties with the support of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and is a pledge by the political parties to each other to promote and apply it by observing all rules and regulations relating to the conduct of elections and the maintenanace of public order.
Reading a release put together by the national team, Rev Dr Deegbe said the body would also ruthlessly apply the enforcements under the code to any political party that fell foul of the code.
He said generally the high number of reported cases of violence and registration by minors with the active connivance of some political actors were inimical to muliti-party democracy.
He said the IEA observer groups that were deployed during the exercise witnessed minors, accompanied by heavily-built men who prevented political party agents from challenging them, resulting in assault and gunshots at some centres.
Rev Dr Deegbe said there was no doubt that the 2008 election would be charecterised by keen competition, and if not checked it would culminate in violence, and urged the regional bodies to expedite action on the setting up of investigating bodies so that those who breeched the code would be brought to book.
He reminded political parties that they should abide by their pledge that they would publicly and without reservation condemn all forms of intimidation and political violence, irrespective of the prepetrators and renounce violence.
He said they should at all times abide by the promise that they would ensure that their agents and members desisted from carrying or displaying arms and offensive weapons.
Answering questions from journalists concerning the violence and wrong activities that were perpetuated by some political parties, Mr O. B. Amoah, a Deputy Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, who represented the New Patriotic Party (NPP) said all the political parties must be wary of such acts, and added that it behoved on Ghanaians as individuals to also abide by the rules of the game.
However, Mr Ekow Duncan, who represented the Convention People’s Party (CPP), said the CPP never indulged in such malpractices and interference during the voter registration exercise, and urged the political parties that orchestrated those deeds to apologise to Ghanaians.
He said what they did during the registration could be recipes for disputed elections, and that they must realise the consequences of their actions and never do that again.