General News of Friday, 24 June 2016

Source: starrfmonline.com

Some politicians promising the moon – Peace Council

Chairman of the National Peace Council, Rev Professor Emmanuel Asante Chairman of the National Peace Council, Rev Professor Emmanuel Asante

The National Peace Council has expressed concern over the various promises being made by some politicians ahead of the November general elections.

Chairman of the Council, Professor Emmanuel Asante, addressing the 2016 Annual General Meeting of Amnesty International Ghana, in Koforidua on Friday said politicians are capitalizing on the ignorance of many Ghanaians and are making unrealistic promises to win votes.

According to him, such acts are "abuse of people’s right" which civil society organizations must fight against.

He added that manifestos of the various political parties are crafted in technical language making it difficult for the majority of Ghanaians to understand.

"Have you known your party's manifesto? And even if it is written in raw English, the majority of our people are not that educated so why don't you even come down to their level and simply tell them the kind of things you want to do in a language that they will understand, that is also denying people their right to know.

“...Because what people are doing, they are promising us the moon...somebody goes to the forest and tells you that I am going to pipe the sea...how is that person going to deliver,” Prof. Asante said.

The 2016 Annual General Meeting of Amnesty International, was under the theme: “Promoting Peace and Human Rights in the Context of Elections: The Role of Civil Society".

The Krontihene of New Juaben Traditional Area, who represented the Paramount Chief, Daasebre Professor Oti Boateng on his part charged the Electoral Commission to abide by the Supreme Court ruling to clean the voters register by deleting names of persons who registered with NHIS cards and re-register in other to ensure peaceful polls on November 7.