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CDD Ghana identifies vote “rigging time”
Accra, July 22, Ghanadot/GNA – An
official of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana)
on Tuesday identified the period between 1500 and 1600 hours
on Election Day as potential electoral manipulation time
zone and urged politicians, electoral observers and the
media to be extra vigilant at that time.
He noted that this was the slack period on voting day as the
heavy turn-out in the morning shrank, paving the way for
some party agents shirking their responsibilities. This, he
said, created room for unscrupulous politicians in
collaboration with some electoral officials to unleash their
rigging machinery.
"We can only prevent it if all political parties recruited
committed and educated party agents who are conversant with
the electoral laws and election day activities," Mr. John
Larvie, Elections Coordinator of CDD Ghana, stated at a
two-day Election Reporting and Capacity Building training
workshop for journalists in Accra.
The workshop organized by the Deutsche Welle Akademie of
Germany in collaboration with Friedrich Naumann Foundation
for Freedom seeks to energize Ghanaian journalists for this
year's election activities.
Mr. Larvie who spoke on "the Role of Elections in Democratic
Societies," said the conduct of free, fair and transparent
election was a shared responsibility among the various
stakeholders - electoral administrators, contesting
political parties, civil society organizations, the media
and the electorate.
He urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to ensure that all
eligible Ghanaians had impartial and non-discriminatory
access to the register during the up-coming limited voter
registration exercise, fixed to begin on July 31.
Mr. Larvie, who is a former Public Affairs Director of the
EC, also expressed disquiet about abuse of incumbency by
operatives of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and
suggested that, "Government functionaries should be charged
for the use of state resources for political gain".
He urged the media to play their watchdog role effectively
by checking on incumbency abuse.
Mrs. Dagmar Traub-Evans of the Embassy of the Federal
Republic of Germany in-charge of Economic, Cultural and
Press Affairs said Election 2008 offered Ghanaians an
opportunity to deepen the nation's democratic credentials.
She said the international community would be keenly
watching the politics in the country and urged the media to
continue to maintain their neutrality to ensure that the
electorate was fed with accurate information.
Mr Charles Achaye-Odong, Project Manager of Deutsche Welle
Akademie, said the institute was committed to the promotion
and support of international media development by providing
training and consultancy to radio and television stations in
Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Arab World and Eastern
Europe.
GNA
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