Political parties, media urged to promote political tolerance

Accra, Feb. 17, GNA - Mr. Affail Monney, Vice-President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), has urged political parties and the media to spearhead the drive for political tolerance in society since misguided partisanship could derail the country's democratic development. "Our attitude to each other especially those we perceive as political enemies stinks, to say the least, and the exceedingly bad political odour is reflected in the emotional overdrive with which issues are discussed and comments made on the airwaves and in the private newspapers," he said. Mr. Monney gave this advice when he launched the 2010 Students Representative Council Week celebration of the Valley View University Students Association (VAVIUSA) on Tuesday.

The celebration, which ends on February 21, is on the theme: "Deepening Democracy in Ghana: The Way Forward and Role of the Tertiary Student." He called for the elimination of deep seated hatred exhibited by representatives of different sides of the political divide and even those who wear the same political colours.

"It is obvious that the red hot anger, the blood thirsty instinct, the combative posture and the high voltage tensions that characterized election 2008 had their roots in political intolerance. "Education, they say is a process and not a place so political parties should make the gospel of peaceful co-existence a regular feature and not only in an election year."

Mr Monney advised the media to weigh the full implications of the information disseminated in order not to inflame passions and lead media consumers into political temptation.

He called for the strengthening of governance institutions such as Parliament in order to serve as a check on the over-bearing influence of the Executive.

Mr. Monney noted that deepening democracy in Ghana had imposed enormous obligations on the citizenry, especially students, to build their capacity and address the serious leadership deficit in society. "Tertiary institutions can be described as mental factories for the production of strategic minds as well as self-confident, visionary, strong-willed, risk taking and goal-oriented leaders. Mr. Wonder Madilo, President of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), urged government to institute measures in order to address the problem of school drop-outs and protect the lives of the country's future leaders.

He called for an independent investigation into the food poisoning incident at Archbishop Porter Girls School. Mr Emmanuel Tawiah Tetteh, President of VAVIUSA, advised students to promote grassroots participation in the country's democratic dispensation instead of relying on politicians to lead them.

Dr. Daniel Ganu, Vice President of Valley View University incharge of Academic Administration, said the institution equipped students with holistic education in order to prepare them for the challenges in life. Activities lined up for the celebration include a sports fiesta, drama, educational fair, bible quiz, eye screening, seminar, food and banking fair, social trip, and gospel musical night.

Valley View University was established in 1979 by the West African Union Mission of Seventh-day Adventists (now Ghana Union Conference). In 1997 it was absorbed into the Adventist University system operated by the Africa-Indian Ocean Division (WAD) of Seventh-day Adventist with headquarters in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.

The Ghana Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, organized in 2000, serves as the local manager of the University. The University was initially called the Adventist Missionary College, and was located at Bekwai-Ashanti. It was transferred to Adentan, near Accra, in 1983 where it operated in rented facilities until it was relocated to its present site near Oyibi (Mile 19 on the Accra-Dodowa Road) in 1989 and was renamed Valley View College.

The National Accreditation Board (Ghana) granted it national accreditation in 1995, thus allowing the university to award her own degrees. Valley View University was the first private institution in Ghana to be granted national accreditation.