CONDUCT CAMPAIGNS WITH CIRCUMSPECTION (PAGE 14)

STORY: Zakaria Alhassan, Tamale

WITH the various political parties busily mapping out strategies to brighten up their chances in the general elections in December, this year, the Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission in charge of Operations, Mr Kwadwo Sarfo Kantanka, has cautioned that the parties should carry out their campaigns with much circumspection.
He reminded them that democracy was only a process and should, therefore, not lead to antagonism; ‘‘politics is not war; we need to do away with actions and practices that have the possibility of marring our nascent democracy.’’
Mr Kantanka equally advised the youth to be steadfast and not allow themselves to be used as pawns in the political process, asking, ‘‘Why don’t those who use these young, innocent people to do their dirty bidding use their own children?’’
The director was speaking at a day’s inter-party advisory committee meeting for political parties, civil society organisations and the media in Tamale. It had the theme; ‘‘Building stakeholders confidence in the outcome of the 2008 elections’’, and was organised by the EC in collaboration with KAB Governance Consult and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Among the topics discussed were, ‘‘towards credible elections-our expectations of political parties’’; ‘‘the forthcoming voters’ registration exercise-expectations and challenges’’; and ‘‘the inbuilt integrity of Ghana’s electoral process’’.
Mr Kantanka also mentioned bribery, corruption, intimidation and violence as some of the unorthodox methods used by some political activists in their attempt to annex power.
He, however, said ‘‘those people who engage in such negative practices that are contrary to the laws of this country do that because they simply fail to get their messages across to the people in the first place”.
On the forthcoming voters registration exercise, the director advised all eligible voters to avail themselves of the opportunity to register but reminded the public that the exercise was not a census.
‘‘We should ensure that minors are not allowed to register; neither should people engage in multiple registration because the law would eventually get you if you attempt it,” he warned.
Mr Kantanka further entreated political party representatives to always channel their respective complaints and grievances to the commission for redress instead of taking the law into their own hands at the least opportunity.
The Deputy Chairman in charge of Finance and Administration, Mr David Adenzi Kanga, said one of the means of making the electoral process credible was to ensure decent collation of results at the end of polls.
He added that it was necessary for all party representatives to be present during the collation period in order to ensure that the outcome of the results was acceptable to all.
‘‘It is unacceptable to organise thugs to destroy or terrorise others during the collation exercise just because your party is losing out in the race,’’ Mr Kanga intimated, adding that the ‘‘electoral process has created enough room for resolving problems associated with balloting”.