Election 08: Parties' quest for power directing course

Accra, May 5, GNA - The quest for power by the major parties has continued to direct the course of activities of the campaign as the December polls get close.

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) notes that New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its predecessor National Democratic Congress (NDC) have tasted power and see Election 2008 as very crucial and a do-or-die affair.


In the meantime, the Convention People's Party (CPP) and the People's National Convention (PNC) have memories of the taste of power and consider the December polls as a moment for comeback, Mr. Laary Bimi, NCCE chairman, said at the main lecture of the 8th Annual National Constitution Week celebration in Accra. The 8th Annual National Constitution Week celebration on the general theme: "The Sovereign Will of the People and Election 2008," was organized by the NCCE and chaired by Miss Justice Sophia Akufo, Justice of the Supreme Court. It was attended by representatives of political parties, governance institutions, media, security agencies, students and cross-section of the public.


Mr Bimi said the quest for political power had created a mutually high suspicion among the parties especially between NPP and NDC in terms of what and how they were planning to win the election and what they might possible do after the election. The NCCE chairman therefore urged democratic stakeholders to monitor campaign schemes of these parties closely to ensure that they adhered to the principles and tenets of the 1992 Constitution, Code of Conduct for Elections, the Political Parties Act and avoided abuse of incumbency.


He said the political barometer indicated that the slightest suspicion of bias on the part of the referees as well as other democratic stakeholders, whether real or perceived, leading to any manipulation of the outcome of the vote, may jolt the nation's democratic march.


Mr Bimi expressed concern that in spite of the crucial need for civic and political education to ensure that the electorate and the entire citizenry were alive to their rights and obligations, the budget for the Commission was low.

"We have no finances with which to work yet nobody seems to care, but the Commission is blamed for every conceivable social ill in the country," the NCCE chairman said.


On why this year's Constitution week was not loaded with the usual activities that engaged most of the citizenry, Mr. Bimi said the financial backing of the activities had slid. He explained that the Ford Foundation had initially supported the Annual National Constitution week celebration but the grant dried up after three years.


"In view of the apathy demonstrated by policy makers, resources allocated to the Commission could not make us maintain and whip up interest in the annual event beyond the 2001 level." "I must add, in all fairness, that in 2004 the resource portfolio of the Commission improved significantly. However, after 2004, it has slid to a subsistence level where our nose is barely above the water level," the NCCE chairman emphasised. He, however, commended the Ford Foundation, IBIS West Africa, Actionaid International, DANIDA, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for supporting NCCE to live above the water level.


Speaking on the main theme for the celebration, Mr John Mark Opoku of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre said elections provided Ghanaians with the opportunity to let the constitution work by selecting an administration, "a government that will protect and be accountable to the people".


He said in spite of the limitations of the 1992 Constitution, it protected the citizenry against all forms of discrimination, race, ethnicity, and creed.

"The Constitution is the foundation of Ghana's representative democracy as it promotes equity in resource allocation, balanced development of all administrative regions of the country and a sense of belonging for all Ghanaians."


Mr Okoku identified four major challenges to the consolidation of the democratic governance - the role of the people in the election of a government, credibility of the electoral process, the quality of the campaign messages of contestants and implementation of the messages after winning power.


Mr Opoku urged the electorate to "acknowledge that election is not just about voting but voting for the right people and ensuring that they deliver.. That way we effectively express that the sovereignty of Ghana resides in the people."