Atebubu: NCCE Moves To Enhance Inter-Party Dialogue Ahead Of Voting Day

The Atebubu-Amantin municipal office of the National Commission for Civic Education NCCE has inaugurated a twenty-member inter-party dialogue committee at a ceremony in Atebubu.

The committee which has the primary objective of ensuring free, fair, and peaceful elections in the constituency has its membership drawn from political parties, the Police Service, the Electoral Commission of Ghana, the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice as well as the Local Council of Churches and the office of the municipal Chief Imam. Others are the traditional council, people with disabilities, the municipal assembly, and the media.

According to the Atebubu-Amantin municipal director of the Commission Mr. Patrick Tampugre, the committee will serve as an effective platform for key stakeholders to engage political parties and shall monitor and report cases of breach of rules and regulations relating to the conduct of elections and the maintenance of public order.

He enumerated some of the key violations of electoral laws as monetary and other forms of inducement of the electorate, declaration of election results by political parties, defacing of posters, biased media reportage, campaign violence, use of provocative language, the rigging of elections, and abuse of incumbency.

The municipal electoral officer Mr. Kenneth Opoku said as part of measures to ensure peace on election day, no non-accredited party representatives will be accommodated at either the polling stations or collation center adding that all billboards within a 100-meter radius of any polling station will have to be pulled down before the elections.

He said his outfit is the only legally mandated body to call election results and appealed for calm in the run-up to, during, and after the elections.

The municipal Police Commander Chief Superintendent Bright Boafo outlined the preparedness of the security agencies to ensure peace during the elections and urged all the parties to be abreast with what he called ‘rules of engagement’ to ensure a peaceful election.

Political parties present which included the New Patriotic Party NPP, The National Democratic Congress NDC, the Peoples National Convention PNC, the Ghana Union Movement GUM, the Convention Peoples Party PNC, and the Progressive Peoples Party PPP made various suggestions that could lead to a violence-free election.

They identified the use of intemperate language and personal attacks on radio by agents of both the NDC and the NPP as the single most important threat to peace in the constituency.

The municipal director of CHRAJ Mr. Ephraim De Souza swore into office a five-member executive chaired by Mr. Opawna Lucky Luke a deputy coordinating director at the municipal assembly to steer the affairs of the committee.