Christian Council to launch voter education and election monitoring

Accra, June 23, GNA - The Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) is to embark on a voter education and election monitoring project to disseminate information on the electoral processes to the general public.

The programme, which would be between September and November, would involve 15 districts in the Greater Accra, Eastern and Northern regions. The Reverend Dr Fred Deegbe, General Secretary of the Council, in an interview with the GNA, said funding for the programme was sourced from the Church Development Service, an association of the Protestant Churches in Germany (EED), following an appeal.

He said the main project was to be preceded by an official launch on June 30 to outdoor it and to let other institutions be aware that Ghanaians still needed to be educated on the electoral processes. The project is limited only to the three regions because of the limited funds available, he explained. "Over 100,000 ballots were spoilt by the electorate during the last election and this calls for intensive education for the electorate to know how to vote properly, why they are to vote, what they should vote for and which candidate best deserves their votes," he said. Again, the electorate would be educated on the roles of parliamentarians as well as those of the president so they could watch out for those who would mount platforms to make promises and say things which are not within their mandate. Rev. Deegbe explained that the Council would partner the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and the Information Services Department to organise a training of trainers programme for 100 persons selected from the traditional councils, Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, Catholic Secretariat, Ghana Conference on Religion for Peace on the rules of the Electoral Commission regarding elections. The public education would be done through fora and durbars in churches, mosque and communities.

"As a Christian institution, we are interested in peace for our country and in the democratic processes, as our civic responsibility." The election monitoring would also be done on the day of the elections, he said, adding that this would help give credibility to the process.