Elections are not battles - NCCE

Accra, June 20, GNA- "Elections are not battles to be fought but only contested to be won fairly," Mr Kwaku Baah Owusu, Director of Public Education at the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), said on Thursday.

He made the remark at a symposium organised by the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) on the theme: Ensuring Democratic Participation in Africa. He spoke on the role of the NCCE.

He noted that as the time for the December polls approached, tension kept building up in the country around issues of the influence of money, political vindictiveness, perceived abuse of incumbency and others, creating the impression that Ghana was heading for a battle in December.

Mr Owusu said elections was nothing more than a platform for the electorate to decide who they would give the mandate of government to, having in mind that they the electorate are the masters and those elected are the servants.

"Elections give the voters the choice to alternate between being rulers or subjects. But that does not change the fact that the vote is always the master and the elected is always the servant," he said. He said to that extent, the electorate needed to approach the December polls with the attitude that sovereignty lied with them and not with the politicians and political parties, which usually sought to influence the electorate in ways that did not necessarily serve the interest of the masses and the country.

Mr Owusu reminded the electorate that money in po litics and other means of influence could not be avoided, but the electorate had a choice to make informed rather than influenced choices at the December polls. He said there was the need to draw a line between what is an unfair political advantage to the incumbent and what was a necessary executive function, in order to disabuse the minds of the electorate about abuse of incumbency.

Mr Owusu called for a re-visitation of the issue of reviewing the voting period from 07.00 hours to 17.00 hours, to 06.00hours to 16.00 hours, to avoid any breaches in the electoral process when night falls during vote counting and the movement of ballot boxes to collations centres.

He however asked the voters to look beyond the negative issues played up in the public domain and rather critically examine the campaign promises of the various political parties and decipher the possibility and probability of those promises before voting. He said whereas voting is a right of every constitutionally qualified citizen of voting age, that right would better be exercised when the voter is well informed about how and why to vote for whom. "On that account the Electoral Commission has a duty to educate the voters on how to vote properly, the NCCE has the mandate to show the people why they must vote and the political parties have a duty to articulate their vision properly to make the people decide wisely on whom to vote for," he said.

"The right to vote is meaningless without enforcement and enforcement begins with the education of the citizens on how and why to exercise it," he said.

He said the EC should also ensure that every qualified citizen of voting age was registered and given the opportunity to exercise their right to vote in the December polls. "We at the NCCE would do our part by educating the public on why they must vote, especially the youth, who tend to easily yield to the negative influence that inflame undesirable passions during elections," he said.

Mr Owusu noted that many Ghanaians of voting age had refused to vote in the past and some are still considering not voting in the December polls because political parties had not articulated their aspirations. He said, whereas not everybody could be in government, everyone could be part of the governance process by voting and it was therefore necessary for all qualified citizens of voting age to vote. "We must understand that every single vote is of equal value. No one vote is different from the other and that is why all our individual votes are necessary for the decision as to who will be our leaders," he said.

Mr Owusu asked voters and all persons mandated to be present at polling stations to avoid actions that would deny any qualified voters from exercising their right. "Do not sell your votes, do not prevent other qualified persons from exercising their right and do well to keep the peace - security agents must also play their role effectively in maintaining peace and order at polling stations," he said. 20 June 08