Row Over ?2-Sure? Slogan

Confusion has emerged over the rights of political parties to ownership of some campaign slogans. This follows the drawing of lots last Friday to determine the order in which the parties? names and symbols will appear on the ballot paper in this year?s elections.

Some of the political parties coined catchy slogans immediately to reflect their positions on the ballot.

However, at an election forum organized by the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), the contestants of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and People?s National Convention (PNC) for the Ablekuma Central parliamentary seat, in Accra, engaged in a heated debated over which of them had the right to use the slogan ?two sure, two direct.?

The NPP candidate will appear second in the order of names on the ballot paper in both the presidential and parliamentary election. This was interpreted by the party?s National Campaign Manager, Mr. Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, to mean a second term for President John Agyekum Kufuor, hence the use of that slogan by some NPP supporters.

However, that same slogan was used by the PNC during the 1996 and 2000 elections. Significantly, that NPP?s catchphrase in 2000 was ?Aseeho?, and indication of the bottom slot the party occupied on the ballot paper in that election.

Mr Stephen Aloma, the PNC?s Ablekuma Central parliamentary candidate, accused the NPP of ?hijacking? his party?s slogan, saying that it was the ?exclusive property? of the PNC. He said the NPP had also adopted the ?Positive Change? slogan during the 200 elections, which he claimed the PNC coined. Mr aloma, therefore, requested the NPP to stop using the ?two sure? slogan, since its continued use could create confusion amongst members of the electorate.