An official of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) has stated that the public should disabuse their minds of the notion that the Commission was for a particular political party.
Mr. John Arhin, the Cape Coast Metro Director of the NCCE who said this at the Oguaa Inter-Party Dialogue Committee (IPDC) meeting over the weekend, assured Ghanaians that staff of the Commission who is well trained will not toe the line of any political party.
He said the main objective of the Commission was to work hard towards sustaining Ghana’s democratic dispensation which had become a beacon of hope and an example for the whole of Africa, and therefore all stakeholders must ensure that nothing was done to derail it.
The meeting was attended by political party representatives including the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Convention Peoples’ Party (CPP), the Peoples’ National Convention (PNC), the Progressive Peoples’ Party (PPP) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as well as religious, traditional, media police, representatives and CHRAJ.
Mr. Arhin advised followers and members of political parties against resorting to violence to secure political power and warned that anybody who would engage in such acts when caught would not be spared.
He said in the face of the volatile nature of political discourse, it was prudent that Ghanaians were reminded that democracy was the best option of governance and advised the youth to refrain from any acts that would generate into chaos and conflicts before, during and after the elections in December.
Neenyi Kofi Tagoe, the Principal Civic Education Officer of the NCCE, who briefed members of the Committee on the Political Parties’ Code of Conduct which he said was the working document of the Committee, urged members to be conversant with it to enable them function effectively to ensure electoral peace and decorum.
He appealed to all political parties to attach importance to the work of the committee for it to deliver effectively.
He said it was an offence to attend political rallies with dangerous implements and also resort to the use of derogatory remarks and urged the members of the Committee to educate their members on the dos and don’ts of the code of conduct.
He urged politicians to stop tagging national projects with political colours to help foster national unity and cohesion.
The 22-member Committee elected Reverend Kwodwo Odum, a Methodist Priest as its chairman with Nana kojo Addae II, chief of Abura as vice.
They pledged to work hard to ensure incident free elections in the Cape Coast Metropolis.**
