The Executive Director of Child\u2019s Rights International, Mr Bright Appiah, has advised students who have not attained the voting age of 18 or above to stay away from polling stations on December 7.<\/p>\n
That, he said, was to prevent them from falling foul of the law which does not allow people below the age of 18 to vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are not 18 years and not a registered voter, do not be within the confines of a polling station or be engaged in political activities,\u201d Mr Appiah told children during an interview.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”HzMR0l1BCa2jSvBIJYdtXfAtXyYMFTbA”]The electoral law states that \u201cEvery citizen of Ghana, 18 years or above and of sound mind, has the right to vote and is entitled to be registered as a voter for the purposes of public elections and referenda.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Appiah stressed that schoolchildren should not engage in any form of political activity in the run-up to the election.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are below 18 years, there are privileges in Article 28 of the Constitution that you are entitled to as a child. So if you are a child and you engage in political activities, you take yourself out of those privileges and protection that you are entitled to,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Article 28 (a), for instance, says: \u201cEvery child has the right to the same measure of special care, assistance and maintenance as is necessary for its development from its natural parents, except where those parents have effectively surrendered their rights and responsibilities in respect of the child in accordance with law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Appiah said children should always stay within the confines of the law and do the right thing; and encouraged them to be alert so that adults who would want to influence them to do things they are not supposed to do would not be able to do so.<\/p>\n
On election day, he said, children should be at home and asked parents also to prevent their children from going out to polling stations to witness the electoral process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to safeguard the environment for the welfare of children,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: Graphic Online<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Executive Director of Child\u2019s Rights International, Mr Bright Appiah, has advised students who have not attained the voting age of 18 or above to stay away from polling stations on December 7. That, he said, was to prevent them from falling foul of the law which does not allow people below the age of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":274046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[3,11756],"yoast_head":"\n