Parties must augment NCCE education programmes

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has appealed to political parties to augment its efforts reduce to the minimum rejected ballots in the December 7, general elections.

Mr Philemon Boni, Ada West District Director of the NCCE, who made the appeal, said political parties must use their platforms to educate their followers on the proper way to cast their votes.

Mr Boni noted that instead of propagating falsehood and inciting their followers to violence, parties must partner the NCCE to reduce drastically the high incident of rejected ballots.

He made the appeal on Friday during an engagement with political parties' representatives from Ada West, Ada East and the Ningo-Prampram Districts.

The meeting was jointly held by the NCCE and the National Peace Council.

He reminded politicians that without such education, monies they put into campaigning and other activities would not yield the expected dividends.

Rejected ballots, according to him, always placed third after counting of votes cast since the 1992 elections.

Mr Boni indicated that due to logistical constraints, his outfit was educating the electorates through visitations to churches, mosques, schools, recognised women and disabled groupings.

He explained that they expect such people they interact with to carry the message to their communities and educate others.

The Ada West NCCE Director added that the only way to educate majority of voters with limited resources was for the political parties to augment the Commission's effort and invite officials to educate their members during rallies and other gatherings.

Miss Linda Esi Abban, Ada West District Electoral Officer on her part enumerated the Electoral Commission's programme line-up towards the conduct of the elections.

Miss Abban said out of 1,686 deleted names of voters who registered with the NHIS card in the district, 669 re-registered.

She added that 194 voters were registered in the District during the continuous registration exercise while over 600 transfer of votes were carried out by her outfit.

She advised voters and polling agents of political parties to strictly adhere to the electoral laws to ensure free and fair elections.

Mr George Amoh, Director of Programmes at the National Peace Council, said even though conflict was inevitable in human interactions, its proper management was important.

Mr Amoh therefore encouraged politicians to use available mechanisms such as dialogue, mediation, discussions among others to resolve any election related issue instead of resorting to violence.

He also cautioned politicians against demonising state institutions as according to him whoever wins the elections would work with the same institutions after attacking their credibility.