Political parties promise violent free elections

Accra, Aug. 27, GNA - Youth activists of seven political parties on Monday pledged their commitment towards a violent free elections before, during and after the 2008 elections and called on the media and the security agencies to eschew biases and negative propaganda. "Four elections under the fourth Republican Constitution, had offered politicians preparatory grounds to mature in the tenets of democratic politicking, electioneering campaigning and respect for divergent views, which are necessary ingredients to defuse political violence," the youth activists stated at a two-day workshop for political parties in Accra.

The workshop, organised by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) under the political party youth activist project for Osu Klottey Constituency was on the theme; "Developing Political Party Youth Activists for A Violent Free Multi-Party Political Environment." The activists were from the New Patriotic Party (NPP), National Democratic Congress (NDC), Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Peoples National Convention (PNC), Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) and the EAGLE Party.

Mr. Kofi Adams, NDC Youth Activists said that the role of the Electoral Commission and other democratic stakeholders, Government and the Security Agencies as well as the Media and the Political Parties was as vital for the conduct of violent free elections. He called on the NCCE and FES to organise similar workshops for all the political actors to ensure the proper understanding of their roles towards peaceful general elections.

"You must also consider local communities, where people generally take advantage of the ignorance of the activists and use them for political violence, intimidation and other social vices."

Mr. Alex Nii Quartey, Deputy Greater Accra Regional Secretary of the NPP described the party as a non-violent free democratic body and said, "we consider Elections 2008 as crucial to demonstrate to the world our ability to organise a free, fair acceptable elections...as a party we have put in place mechanisms to ensure that our leaders and activists do not engage in any form of violence before, during and after the elections."

He however, appealed to political leaders to be circumspect in their pronouncement on platforms and to the media to control the violence and tensions that came with them. Mr. Bernard Monah, PNC National Youth Organiser urged politicians to desist from engaging either covertly or overtly in Chieftaincy, land litigation and other socio-cultural conflicts. He recognised formal and informal political education as vital for a violent free elections and appealed to the NCCE to intensify its campaign activities throughout the country.

Dr. Kwesi Jonah, a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) chaired the opening session, which was also attended by representatives of the security agencies, religious leaders, civil society activists, and Governance Institutions.