Ghanaians urged to ensure peaceful election for poverty eradication

Accra, Oct. 27, GNA- The Reverend Dr. Fred Deegbe, General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana on Monday urged Ghanaians to ensure that the December polls went peacefully in order "to live and experience the fruits of stable and peaceful mother Ghana". He called on Ghanaians to commit to a non-violent Election 2008 because development and the eradication of poverty started with a peaceful environment and asked them to demand accountability from leaders.

Rev. Dr. Deegbe made the call in Accra at a press conference to brief the media on the report of the three-day "Stand Up and Take Action Against Poverty and Inequality" Campaign, held from October 17, to empower citizens to hold government accountable for the attainment of one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's) of eradicating poverty by 2015.

Noting the Ghana Human Development Report of 2007, which indicated that the proportion of the extremely poor had fallen from 26.8 percent to 18.2, he said the figures were still too high, calling on government to work towards the eradication of poverty in order to achieve the MDG's by 2015.

He observed that the relevance of the "Stand Up and Take Action" 2008 Campaign could be questioned in the wake of the current global economic turmoil, because the global financial crisis and its preceding food price hikes could be devastating to people already affected by poverty when the effects hit Ghana.

He said the need to keep a better focus on poverty was more urgent now and stressed the need for poverty to be kept a priority of present and future governments of Ghana and lending institutions and called on development partners not to cut promised aid but to stay committed to the eradication of poverty. Mr William Nelson, a representative of the National Development Planning Commission, observed that most interventions to eradicate poverty tended to focus on figures rather than on the means of attaining the MDG's.

He said there was the need to enable structures that would help the country attain the MDG's to reduce poverty. Mr Kwame Mensah of the International Labour Organisation noted that one effective way of dealing with poverty was to abolish child labour, which created conditions for poverty, because such children were denied education that could make them compete on the job market to rid themselves of the cycle of poverty.

"Dealing with poverty could be overcome when child labour is done away with" he said.

The "Stand Up and Take Action Against Poverty and Inequality" campaign, is being led by the Global Call Against Poverty Secretariat which is hosted by the Christian Council of Ghana. The campaign that drew anti-poverty campaigners and individuals all over Ghana mobilised and joined over a million people at events in rural, urban, cosmopolitan and cities in all the 10 regions of the country during October 17 to 19, 2008.

It aimed to send a clear message to Ghanaian leaders and those aspiring for office that citizens would not take them on their promises to end poverty and inequality alone, but would demand achievement of set goals. 27 Oct. 08