IDEG launches IDEG/CFI election project

Akosombo (E/R), Nov. 4, GNA - The Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, has called for conscious efforts to encourage women to effectively participate in the upcoming District Level Election.

He explained that if women are supported, they could participate in the Elections because it does not require much resource and is not as challenging as the national elections.

Mr Chireh was speaking at the launch of the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) and the Civic Forum Initiative (CFI) election project, at Akosombo on Wednesday.

The project is aimed at educating and mobilizing the electorate to participate in the up-coming local government elections. Professor Kwame A. Ninson of IDEG, said despite many years of the practice of the Local Government system in Ghana, the electorate were not showing interest in the elections.

He said though the elections were supposed to be apolitical, politics seemed to be creeping into the polls with its attendant divisive tendencies.

Prof. Ninson explained that the IDEG/CFI election project was aimed at organizing programmes to raise people's interest and encourage participation in the local government elections.

Mr David Adeenze Kanga, Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission, suggested the prosecution of people who would attempt to politicize the district assembly elections.

He said under the revised Legislative Instrument (LI) before Parliament, the electoral areas in the country had been increased from 5,000 to more than 6,000.

Mr Kanga said the Unit Committees had also been reduced from more than 15,000 to 6,000 and now each unit committee also covers the same electoral area.

He said under the former LI, each Unit Committee had 15 members of which 10 members were elected and five nominated by government. Mr Kanga said under the proposed LI, the membership of the unit committee had been reduced to five all of whom should be elected.