NCCE official appeals to politicians to shun ethnicity

Hohoe, July 23, GNA - Mr Ferdinand Anku, Volta Regional Director of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), has urged politicians to be civil in their pronouncements and spare the country the trauma of ethnic politicking.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview on the prevailing political atmosphere, Mr Anku said "no ethnic group constituted more than 50 per cent of the population" for which reason it would be counter-productive to canvass for votes along ethnic lines.

"There must be a high degree of decorum, objectivity and honesty in the utterances of politicians", he said.

Mr Anku appealed to civil society, religious organisations and the traditional authorities to be bold to call politicians to order whenever they strayed into the domain of ethnic politicking in order not to heighten tension in the country.

He told politicians to demonstrate their commitment to the tenets of the codes of ethics for political parties and refrain from making unsubstantiated statements against each other.

"Their behaviour should conform and be bending towards charting a new political destiny for the country", he said.

Mr Anku called for fairness and transparency in the electoral process as guaranteed by Article 55 and 56 of the 1992 Constitution. He urged the people to aspire to promoting the country's democracy and refrain from selling their consciences for temporary financial inducements.