General Secretaries of the four main political parties with representation in Parliament, are demanding a clear time table from the Electoral Commission (EC) ahead of the 2016 election.
[contextly_sidebar id=”EAL2KVe1ASosMKUTWxUtIhA5GOwBsyzu”]The call comes amidst suggestions that next year’s election might be held on November 7th instead of the usual December 7 schedule.
The General Secretaries say with almost a year to the election, the EC must come out with its plans for the elections.
The General Secretaries of the incumbent National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC), made the call at a meeting with the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) on the election and other matters ahead of next year’s polls.
Other demands made by the secretaries are listed below:
Electoral Commission
- The EC should to be proactive and act with urgency in view of the closeness of the 2016 elections.
- The EC should publish a clear timetable of the nature of its relationship with STL, and clearly spell out the role STL will play in Ghana’s 2016 elections.
- Political parties and all other stakeholders should work closely with the EC to ensure that Ghana has an acceptable register ahead of the 2016 elections and activities leading up to the elections. This should include plans for implementation of the recommendations submitted by the Electoral Reform Committee.
- Politicians should eschew pronouncements which tend to undermine the peace and cohesion of the country. In particular, they cautioned against reckless threats to Ghana’s peace and security as a way of getting the EC to meet their demands regarding the voters’ register.
Security Agencies
- The secretaries expressed concern about the over politicization of Ghana’s security agencies. It called on all security agencies to act with professionalism and neutrality in the discharge of their duties, particularly in dealing with electoral issues.
- They also recommended that the educational and professional training curricula of the military, police and other security agencies be enhanced with modules on managing election-related security issues. This, according to them is necessary in order to bring the professional conduct of Ghana’s security agencies at par with international best practice standards.
- The Platform also strongly condemned election-related criminal offences, and called for prosecution of all such offences. These include offences such as multiple registrations, impersonation, etc. They also called for prosecution and investigations into past allegations of unlawful conduct of presiding officers to undermine the integrity of the poll.
Media
- Members condemned the practice of clash politics, where the media pitch one political commentator against another in a way so as to incite harsh exchanges and engender ill-feeling among politicians.
- They further called on all politicians to put Ghana’s interest above all else, and resist being used as agents of clash politics by the media.
- They charged the media to act with circumspection and be guided by principles of truth and a consideration of the broader national interest as the country gets ready for the 2016 general elections.
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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