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Elections are not battles – NCCE
Accra, June 20, Ghanadot/GNA– “Elections are not battles to
be fought but only contested to be won fairly,” Mr Kwaku
Baah Owusu, Director of Public Education at the National
Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), said on Thursday.
He made the remark at a symposium organised by the Ghana
Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) on the theme: Ensuring
Democratic Participation in Africa.
He spoke on the role of the NCCE.
He noted that as the time for the December polls approached,
tension kept building up in the country around issues of the
influence of money, political vindictiveness, perceived
abuse of incumbency and others, creating the impression that
Ghana was heading for a battle in December.
Mr Owusu said elections was nothing more than a platform for
the electorate to decide who they would give the mandate of
government to, having in mind that they the electorate are
the masters and those elected are the servants.
“Elections give the voters the choice to alternate between
being rulers or subjects. But that does not change the fact
that the vote is always the master and the elected is always
the servant,” he said.
He said to that extent, the electorate needed to approach
the December polls with the attitude that sovereignty lied
with them and not with the politicians and political
parties, which usually sought to influence the electorate in
ways that did not necessarily serve the interest of the
masses and the country.
Mr Owusu reminded the electorate that money in politics and
other means of influence could not be avoided, but the
electorate had a choice to make informed rather than
influenced choices at the December polls.
He said there was the need to draw a line between what is an
unfair political advantage to the incumbent and what was a
necessary executive function, in order to disabuse the minds
of the electorate about abuse of incumbency.
Mr Owusu called for a re-visitation of the issue of
reviewing the voting period from 07.00 hours to 17.00 hours,
to 06.00hours to 16.00 hours, to avoid any breaches in the
electoral process when night falls during vote counting and
the movement of ballot boxes to collations centres.
He however asked the voters to look beyond the negative
issues played up in the public domain and rather critically
examine the campaign promises of the various political
parties and decipher the possibility and probability of
those promises before voting.
He said whereas voting is a right of every constitutionally
qualified citizen of voting age, that right would better be
exercised when the voter is well informed about how and why
to vote for whom.
“On that account the Electoral Commission has a duty to
educate the voters on how to vote properly, the NCCE has the
mandate to show the people why they must vote and the
political parties have a duty to articulate their vision
properly to make the people decide wisely on whom to vote
for,” he said.
“The right to vote is meaningless without enforcement and
enforcement begins with the education of the citizens on how
and why to exercise it,” he said.
He said the EC should also ensure that every qualified
citizen of voting age was registered and given the
opportunity to exercise their right to vote in the December
polls.
“We at the NCCE would do our part by educating the public on
why they must vote, especially the youth, who tend to easily
yield to the negative influence that inflame undesirable
passions during elections,” he said.
Mr Owusu noted that many Ghanaians of voting age had refused
to vote in the past and some are still considering not
voting in the December polls because political parties had
not articulated their aspirations.
He said, whereas not everybody could be in government,
everyone could be part of the governance process by voting
and it was therefore necessary for all qualified citizens of
voting age to vote.
“We must understand that every single vote is of equal
value. No one vote is different from the other and that is
why all our individual votes are necessary for the decision
as to who will be our leaders,” he said.
Mr Owusu asked voters and all persons mandated to be present
at polling stations to avoid actions that would deny any
qualified voters from exercising their right.
“Do not sell your votes, do not prevent other qualified
persons from exercising their right and do well to keep the
peace – security agents must also play their role
effectively in maintaining peace and order at polling
stations,” he said.
GNA
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