NCCE steps up efforts to ensure peaceful elections

With five months to go for the December 7 crucial general election, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has stepped up its educational campaign to guarantee peaceful, free and fair elections.
Relatedly, the commission has embarked on a comprehensive programme which will involve political actors, including voters, the security agencies, women’s groups and chiefs, at the national, regional, district and constituency levels.
Briefing the Daily Graphic in an interview, the Director of Public Education of the NCCE, Mr Kwaku Baa Owusu, outlined some of the programmes to be carried out in the districts as sensitisation of the electorate to the electoral process, effective participation and peaceful non-violent elections.
The rest were forums with political party youth activists on tolerance, aspiring parliamentary candidates, as well as women’s groups, on the challenges of women participation in governance.
At the national level, Mr Owusu said the activities would involve a session with the National House of Chiefs, 10 forums with the security agencies, monitoring and evaluation of regional and district activities and media interaction.
Explaining further, he said the commission would organise public encounters for aspiring Members of Parliament (MPs) to interact with the electorate and also afford the electorate the opportunity to ask those seeking their mandate questions and how the aspirants intended to represent their interest in Parliament and assist in finding solutions to their problems.
With the security agencies, he said the commission would discuss with them their status as state institutions and the need to support the Electoral Commission (EC) to achieve peaceful elections.
He said as individuals, security personnel had their political inclinations, as well as the right to vote for political parties of their choice, but added that it was important they did not allow that to overshadow their professional work.
Mr Owusu said the commission would also give hearing to the security personnel concerning their perceived challenges about the elections and how to mutually address them.
Regarding voter education, he said the commission would be working in close collaboration with the EC at every stage, commencing from the sensitisation of voters in respect of the registration and the need to vote in a peaceful manner.
He said the commission considered chiefs as very important stakeholders in the process of achieving peaceful elections, adding that there was also the need for chiefs to adhere to the constitutional provision that barred them from actively participating in politics.
Mr Owusu expressed worry over the utterances of some chiefs which were not in good taste, especially those who openly declared their support for one political grouping or another, adding that "such moves can divide the communities and are sources of conflict".
He said the NCCE would organise forums with media practitioners on the need for them to be circumspect in their reportage to ensure that they helped in securing peaceful elections, as well as refrain from using inflammatory language that could culminate in conflict.