Parties Must Have Presence Nationwide - NCCE

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has encouraged all political parties to endeavour to have a physical presence in every part of the country and not only be visible in the capital, Accra.

The commission said political parties must move beyond just being organs of election machines for winning election and be institutions that shaped the philosophy of people towards what they wanted to do for the country.

The Deputy Chairperson of NCCE, Mrs Augustina Akosua Akumanyi, told the Daily Graphic that this would bring meaning to multi-party democracy, ensure that parties were very effective on the ground and put government on its toes.

She said each of the 10 political parties so far registered should have a clear distinct message so that the voter population and Ghanaians in general could tell the difference between one party and another.

Mrs Akumanyi, who spoke in the company of Mr Papa Nketsia, the Communications Director of the Commission, said it was sad to observe that many of the political parties had little or no presence at all in several parts of the country.

They said this was not good for multi-party democracy and expressed the hope that efforts would be made to reverse the trend.

Mrs Akumanyi said if politicians could also tone down their belligerent voices for peace to prevail then we would have a country to rule.

She said those making the ugly noises were undermining their own political party. “If you intimidate voters how can they vote for you,” he stated.

Mrs Akumanyi said when politicians were on political platforms, it was as if they were possessed and they said all kinds of inflammatory things.

This attitude, she pointed out, must stop to enable national political discourse based on issues to reign.

Story by Kobby Asmah